Pärnu Music Festival announces its anniversary programme

Text Johanna Heinonen
Photo Kaupo Kikkas

The Pärnu Music Festival, which has been ranked among the best classical music festivals in Europe for two years in a row, returns in mid-summer with top soloists and a high-quality international concert programme. The festival will take place from July 16 to 25, in Pärnu.

The programme will include the premieres of new works by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Alisson Kruusmaa and Elis Hallik, as well as many works by the great composer Arvo Pärt to celebrate his 90th birthday.

The opening concert on July 16 will feature the Järvi Academy Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi. The orchestra will perform Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten and compositions by Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Two days later, the charismatic Kristjan Järvi and the Nordic Pulse ensemble will draw inspiration from Pärt’s music in their concert Pärdi peeglis.

Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra will take to the stage on four evenings (19, 20, 24 and 25 July). All concerts will feature works by Pärt, including Silhouette, first performed by Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris at the inaugural concert of the Paris Philharmonic in 2015. Pärt’s Credo, which caused a stir in the Soviet Union in 1968 when Neeme Järvi was conductor, will also be performed. In Pärnu, Credo will be performed in a spectacular joint performance with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, the Estonian National Male Choir and the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir.

Top soloists and new works by Estonian composers

This year’s programme includes the premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Desert Wind oboe concerto with internationally renowned oboist Kalev Kuljus as soloist (July 19). The Pärnu stage will also feature the latest works by two female composers from Pärnu: Elis Hallik’s Oriri (July 20) and Alisson Kruusmaa Valse lente (July 25).

Violinists Hans Christian Aavik and Marie Poll will perform Pärt’s Tabula rasa (July 20), and guest soloists Iveta Apkalna (24 July) and Vilde Frang (July 25) will perform Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra. The festival will also feature the debut of young organist, Maria Lehtlaan.

Tickets for Pärnu Music Festival 2025 are now on sale and the full programme is available on the festival website: www.parnumusicfestival.ee

To learn more about this and similar topics
Arvo Pärt Classical Music Erkki-Sven Tüür Events in Estonia Paavo Järvi Pärnu events Pärnu Music Festival