Crowds come to listen to Pärt. Today a musical monument of the Estonian composer

When I approached the Fara Church, where this year’s Nostalgia Festival concerts are held, the whole street was crowded with people, mostly young faces. Then this crowd entered the church and filled all the pews. They sat quietly throughout the concert, barely a cough could be heard, no-one talked. That is the nature of this music. But for so many people to come – that I did not expect, wrote Dorota Szwarcman, a music critic and the author of the “Co w Duszy Gra” blog, about yesterday’s opening of Nostalgia Festival.

The pieces from the early days of Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabuli technique sounded nostalgically performed by Andrzej Bauer, Jakub Jakowicz, Bartek Wąsik and Royal String Quartet. We are thrilled that such great numbers came to listen to the new arrangements of Pärt’s compositions [see photos from the concert].

Today evening we will hear an interpretation of the Arvo Part's monumental piece, "Lamentate", by Polish artists – Bartek Wąsik and the L’Autunno Chamber Orchestra directed by Adam Banaszak. "Lamentate", the most magnificent instrumental piece by Arvo Pärt, had its premiere in 2003 in the renowned Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern Museum in London. It was supposed to be a commentary to the 150 meter sculpture Marsyas by Anish Kapoor [see photo].Among the many sorrowful pieces we will hear "My Heart’s in the Highlands", well known to all the admirers of "The Great Beauty" by Paolo Sorrentino.

At 17h00 at Malta Foundation there will be a screening of the concert of Arvo Pärt’s music, which took place on 1998 during Maestro’s visit to Poznań. We will hear Arvo Pärt’s “Tabula Rasa” performed by Young Philharmonic Orchestra choir and soloists under the baton of Martin Sompoliński. The screening will be accompanied by a discussion about sacral music conducted by a music and film critic Jan Topolski with a culture expert Krzysztof Moraczewski, PhD.

The concert screening and the discussion will substitute the meeting with Mariusz Grzegorzek. Next, there will be an opportunity to see the only Polish documentary about the Estonian composer: “Arvo Pärt. Game of numbers”, directed by Mariusz Grzegorzek and produced by Telewizja Polska.

The day will end with a Polish-Soviet super production “The Pilot Pirx Test”, directed by Marek Piestrak (the author of "The She-wolf" and "The Curse of the Snake Valley"), whose music was composed by the duet Arvo Pärt/Eugeniusz Rudnik.