World-renowned Estonian composer Arvo Pärt celebrated his 90th birthday today. He gained international recognition in the 1980s for developing his groundbreaking tintinnabuli style - a meditative approach to composition that has since become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary classical music. Pärt has earned countless accolades over the years, including more than a dozen Grammy nominations, with wins for Best Choral Performance in 2007 and 2014. Arvo Pärt currently holds the title of the world's most performed living composer.
Born in Paide on the 11th of September 1935 Arvo Pärt studied music at the Tallinn Music School and Tallinn Conservatory before starting his career as a sound engineer. He spent a decade working in radio before becoming a freelance composer. Pärt composed many of his pieces whilst living abroad. In 1980 he moved to Vienna then spent the next thirty years living in Berlin, Germany. In 2010 Arvo Pärt returned to Estonia and settled in the coastal village of Laulasmaa. His family opened the Arvo Pärt Centre in 2018 in honour and preservation of his work.
