Arvo Pärt in The Temple of Dendur, June 2014. Photo by Stephanie Berger
«There is a special sense of reverence and a very particular kind of awe felt when Arvo Pärt's music is performed in The Temple of Dendur, an unparalleled space with its own devotional effects on visitors. I've experienced this once before: during our spring 2014 season when Pärt's Kanon Pokajanen was performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in The Temple. That otherworldly quality is so engrained in Pärt's compositions, and on the occasion of the Estonian composer's eightieth birthday, is there any other space more suited to this celebration?»
I am not the only one that feels the emotional effects of Pärt's work staged here, regardless of performance medium. On a recent early morning photo shoot, dancers Rebecca Krohn and Amar Ramasar took their first pose from Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy, part of tonight's highly anticipated, sold-out Arvo Pärt at Eighty program, and the gallery just came to life. You can see it yourself just by looking at the New Yorker's photo.
This evening, September 11—Pärt's actual birthday—a concert of his music will be performed by the New Juilliard Ensemble led by the renowned Joel Sachs, an important early champion of the composer's work as it began to make its impact in North America. Billed as an evening of his most magnificent chamber music, the program includes pieces for string quartet, piano, and mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists. Repertory on the program spans much of Pärt's compositional career, ranging from Für Alina (1976) and My Heart's in the Highlands (2000/2013). While Pärt's music is often described as spiritual, it does not align itself with any particular religion or belief. Rather, it elicits a deep, soulful reflection, and this program highlights the breadth of Pärt's creative output, his genius, and his enduring relevance—his staying power in the field of new music.
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir performs Pärt's Kanon Pokajanen in The Temple of Dendur, June 2014. Photo by Stephanie Berger
The program concludes with Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy, which premiered at New York City Ballet in 2003, and will be performed in front of The Temple by Amar Ramasar and Rebecca Krohn, both principal dancers with City Ballet. Choreographed to Fratres (1977) for violin and piano, Wheeldon's piece is the embodiment of the purity found in the score: a profoundly meditative pas de deux of supple movements and modern formations of the bodies. And just as the program ends with Fratres (1977) for violin and piano, it begins with Fratres for string quartet (1977/1989)—an elegant symmetry.
Arvo Pärt at Eighty on Friday, September 11, is currently sold out, but the performance will be live streamed by Q2 Music beginning at 7:00 p.m. To purchase tickets to any other Met Museum Presents event, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets; call 212-570-3949; or stop by the Great Hall Box Office, open Monday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Related Links
Now at the Met: "Solace and Silence: The Music of Arvo Pärt" (May 30, 2014)
Now at the Met: "I Was Here I Was I to Channel The Temple of Dendur's History" (June 13, 2014)