Music at Oxford launches Arvo Pärt festival

Oxford’s international concert series, Music at Oxford, will next week launch its inaugural ARVO PÄRT... and a Littlemore festival. Run in partnership with the Estonian Embassy in London and the Arvo Pärt Centre, the festival will run from 18 - 25 November with concerts, workshops, talks and film screenings taking place at venues across the city.

Originally intended to celebrate Pärt’s 85th birthday in 2020, the festival takes its name from the Littlemore Tractus, commissioned by the vicar of the Oxford parish of Littlemore, the work was composed in 2000 for choir and organ. The church for which the Tractus was composed will host the festival’s opening concert on 18 November, which will include a performance of the work by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir along with organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent.

Music at Oxford's artistic and executive director, Rebecca Dawson said: ‘As an Estonian who was raised under Soviet rule and eventually had to leave his country along with his wife and children, Pärt understands the importance of peace, which is reflected in our festival. As a music student, I wrote my dissertation on this composer, and some years later worked for the composer’s publisher, meeting the composer on many happy occasions. He taught me that silence matters as much as sound, and that has influenced my understanding of music ever since.'​

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, will perform again on the evening of 18 November at Christ Church Cathedral. The choir also performed the programme, entirely made up of works by Pärt, for the first time earlier this year at Narva, a city on the Estonian-Russian border, as part of the Tallinn/Narva Music Week. The concert will be recreated in Oxford with the aim of highlighting the need for peace.

The festival will also include performances by the Choir of New College who will give the festival evensong and The Carice Singers who will present a programme focusing on Estonian female composers including Galina Grigorjeva and Ester Magi. The festival will also feature Rascher Saxophone Quartet; and O/Modernt led by the renowned violinist Hugo Ticciati.

Pärt’s Songs from Childhood will also receive their UK premiere, with a performance by local children's choirs at St Edward's School. Among his earliest compositions, the Songs from Childhood were composed between the 1950s and 70s and will be presented in a new ensemble arrangement by Pärt’s friend, composer Tauno Aints.