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A composer concert by Arvo Pärt accompanied President Ilves on his state visit to Germany

A composer concert by Arvo Pärt accompanied President Ilves on his state visit to Germany © Raigo Pajula

20.05.2015

Arvo Pärt's composer concert in Berlin Concert Hall was performed in front of a full house last night and was an emotional high-point of the state visit to Germany by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

The Federal President Joachim Gauck and Mrs. Daniela Schadt and the President of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, were all among the guests.

President Ilves, who gave a reception after the concert to honour the Head of State of Germany, thanked Arvo Pärt, Tõnu Kaljuste, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Arvo Pärt Centre, the Estonian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Adler Concert Agency, Berlin Concert Hall, the Cultural Fund of the President of the Republic and the support given by Estonian entrepreneurs for the concert in Berlin.

Arvo Pärt spent his most important creative years in Berlin. Although the internationally recognised composer first discovered his famous tintinnabuli style in Tallinn, in his apartment in Mustamäe, he continued to develop and fine-tune his style in Berlin where a major number of his most well-known works were composed.

President Ilves gave the Federal President Gauck a photo taken by Nora Pärt on 9 November 1989, depicting a smiling Arvo Pärt sitting in his home in Berlin and watching the fall of the Berlin Wall on TV.

We have now brought Arvo Pärt back to Berlin, the Estonian Head of State said.


Office of the President
Public Relations Department