Paavo Järvi celebrates Arvo Pärt at 90 with Estonian Festival Orchestra on tour in Europe with final stop at Carnegie Hall (Oct 23)
(October 2025) — On the heels of the widely acclaimed September release of the all-Arvo Pärt album Credo on Alpha Classics, Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi continues to celebrate the 90th birthday of the composer – not only a compatriot but also a close family friend – on tour with the Estonian Festival Orchestra. Dates in Tallinn, Vienna, Zurich, and Hamburg (Oct 15, 18, 19, 20) lead up to Carnegie Hall, where their performance launches the venue’s year-long celebration of Pärt and marks the orchestra’s North American debut (Oct 23). The tour also includes violinists Midori and Hans Christian Aavik, pianist Kalle Randalu, and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir led by Tõnu Kaljuste, with composer-pianist Nico Muhly joining them for the Carnegie Hall performance. As Spain’s Scherzo declared in overview of this past summer’s Pärt-focused Pärnu Music Festival, where the orchestra is the resident ensemble and Järvi is founder and Artistic Director: “What living artist could ever dream of a better tribute from his fellow citizens?”
Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s Credo on Alpha Classics – recorded during the 2025 Pärnu Music Festival – has already garnered widespread acclaim. The reviewer for The Arts Desk called it “an important and uplifting release, and one of the best-sounding orchestral albums I’ve heard in ages.” Radio France agreed, saying: “The album is truly a tribute to Arvo Pärt … The treatment of strings on this album is magnificent … Paavo Järvi offers a respectful vision of his work, with absolute perfectionism.” The Financial Times likewise declared: “Ten works, from the dramatic to the radiant, are given fine performances by the Estonian Festival Orchestra under Paavo Järvi … Here is the essense of Pärt, simple, sublime, profound.”
The all-Pärt program that Järvi and the orchestra are taking on tour samples works from the composer’s entire career, from the 1963 Perpetuum mobile to 2013’s Swansong and many works in between: Credo, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, Collage sur B-A-C-H, La Sindone, Adam’s Lament, Tabula Rasa, Fratres, Passacaglia, and Da pacem Domine. The Carnegie Hall performance, besides marking the orchestra’s North American debut, also kicks off a seven-concert Carnegie Hall restrospective of Pärt’s works over the course of the season. Details about all the performances are available here, and a promotional video about Pärt – who holds the venue’s 2025–2026 Debs Composer’s Chair – is available below.
See Carnegie Hall’s video about 2025–2026 Debs Composer’s Chair holder Arvo Pärt
Paavo Järvi and Estonian Festival Orchestra tour
Oct 15–23
Tour with Estonian Festival Orchestra
Midori, violin
Hans Christian Aavik, violin
Nico Muhly, Kalle Randalu, piano
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tõnu Kaljuste, director
Repertoire to be selected from:
Arvo PÄRT:
Collage sur B-A-C-H for Oboe, String Orchestra, Harpsichord and Piano
Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (1977)
Perpetuum Mobile (1963)
La Sindone (2005)
Adam’s Lament (2009)
Tabula Rasa (1977)
Fratres (1977)
Passacaglia
Da pacem Domine (2004–06)
Swansong (2013)
Credo (1968)
Oct 15: Tallinn, Estonia
Oct 18: Vienna, Austria (Konzerthaus)
Oct 19: Zurich, Switzerland (Tonhalle)
Oct 20: Hamburg, Germany (Elbphilharmonie)
Oct 23: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)