originally published 5/1/1994

Arts administrator Dominic Aquila offers a short sketch of the life and work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (born 1935). After several years of artistic and spiritual retreat during the 1970s, Pärt abandoned the harmonically austere style of serialism. Aquila notes that Pärt’s music is steeped with a profound emphasis on repentance, characteristic of the Eastern Church. Unlike the minimalist composers John Cage and Philip Glass, Pärt uses purity and simplicity of sound to point beyond the created world to the transcendent Creator. This interview was originally heard on Volume 8 of the Mars Hill Tapes.

6 minutes

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At the time of our interview, Dominic Aquila was Vice President for Academic Affairs at University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, having previously taught history and literature at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He completed his Ph.D. in history at the University of Rochester, his M.B.A. at New York University, and his B.M. at The Julliard School. His past professional posts include administrative positions with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Garth Fagan’s Dance Theater, and consulting positions with the Ohio Arts Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Wadsworth Publishing Company.

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