Arvo Pärt becomes first Estonian to receive Goethe Medal

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has become the first Estonian to receive Germany’s Goethe Medal, the country’s highest state honour, ERR reported. The award was presented in Weimar on August 28, with Pärt’s son, Michael Pärt, accepting it on his behalf.

The medal was also awarded to Italian translator Anita Raja and Greek theatre director Prodromos Tsinikoris. It recognises the recipients’ outstanding creative work and contribution to open cultural dialogue.

The Goethe Institute said the work of this year’s laureates represented the spirit of Europe. Gesche Joost highlighted their courage in life and work, as well as their steadfast belief in the possibility of the impossible.

“With his tintinnabuli compositional technique, Arvo Pärt has managed to touch and unite people around the world with music that seems simple in nature yet is so profound,” Joost said. She added that Pärt’s award symbolised the strength of German-Estonian relations and, in the context of the war in Ukraine, the solidarity of Western and Eastern Europe.

Michael Pärt conveyed his father’s thanks at the ceremony. He said the family had entered the German-speaking world more than 40 years ago and found that they had not come among strangers. The people and institutions there had given his father trust, freedom and the space in which his music could take flight, he said.

The Goethe Medal has been awarded since 1955 to foreign figures in education and culture for their contribution to promoting the German language and culture in their home countries. It also honours efforts to keep cultural dialogue alive.

The medal’s jury includes leaders of important German cultural institutions, representatives of Germany’s Foreign Ministry and the Goethe Institute. This year’s jury was chaired by dramaturge, essayist and theatre figure Thomas Oberender. The medals are presented in Weimar on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s birthday.