Link to Digital Program Notes here.

As a part of the world-wide celebration of Arvo Pärt’s 90^th birthday, James Blachly and Experiential Orchestra bring their deep connection to the music of Pärt to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, building on their sold out concerts of Arvo Pärt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021 and of Pärt’s Passio performed at the Cathedral in two performances in 2023. 

In this immersive performance, EXO invites listeners to explore the unique acoustics of the largest ambulatory chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where each note will reflect and reverberate – a meditation in stone, wood, and silence as well as sound and space. This carefully curated repertoire for strings and percussion includes two US premieres of Arvo Pärt.

We are thrilled to announce that the performances on Thursday, February 19th, and Friday, February 20th, will be preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6:30pm given by Michael Pärt, son of Arvo Pärt and co-founder of the Arvo Pärt Centre, which serves as both the composer's personal archive and a research concert. Michael will be joined on the 20th by theologian and author Peter Bouteneff, whose book, Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence, examines the powerful interplay between Pärt's music and the composer's own deep roots in the Orthodox Christian faith. These pre-concert talks, which are open ticket buyers, offer a rare opportunity to hear directly from those closest to Pärt's artistic and spiritual legacy before being immersed in the composer's music.

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Program

*Für Lennart in memoriam (2006)

*Sequentia (2014)

Psalom (1985, rev. 1997)

Orient & Occident (2000)

Silouan's Song (1991)

Cantus in memoriam of Benjamin Britten (1977)

Vater unser (2013)

Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano

Da pacem Domine (2010)

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*indicates tonight’s performance will be a US Premiere