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The Guardian
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The god of small things: celebrating Arvo Pärt at 90
In many ways Arvo Pärt and John Williams's music couldn't be further apart. One celebrates simplicity, purity, and draws much of its inspiration from sacred texts; the other captures strong emotions in sweeping orchestral scores. And yet the two men are today's most performed contemporary composers. Bachtrack's annual survey of classical music performed across the world placed Pärt second (John Williams is in the top spot) in 2023 and 2024. In 2022, Pärt was first, Williams second. This year, Pärt might return to No 1 as concert halls and festivals worldwide celebrate his 90th birthday, on 11 September. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pärt has found a way to speak across boundaries of culture, creed and generation. In the world of contemporary classical music, where complexity and empty virtuosity often dominate, Pärt stands apart. His music eschews spectacle in favour of silence, simplicity and spiritual depth. Pärt has outlasted political regimes, artistic fashions and shifting trends in composition, yet his work remains strikingly relevant. In a cultural moment saturated with information and spectacle, Pärt offers something almost universally appealing. As the commentator Alex Ross observed in a 2002 New Yorker article, Pärt has 'put his finger on something almost impossible to put into words, something to do with the power of music to obliterate the rigidities of space and time [and] silence the noise of self, binding the mind to an eternal present.' Pärt's early career unfolded under Soviet rule, which shaped much of his emerging artistic trajectory. Trained at Tallinn Conservatory in Estonia, he began composing in a modernist idiom, experimenting with serialism and collage techniques in the 1960s – often to the dismay of Soviet authorities who sought artistic control over the creative process. Works such as Nekrolog (1960), the first 12-tone piece written in Estonia, and the avant garde Credo (1968), which juxtaposed Bach with a compendium of avant-garde techniques and incorporated overt Christian themes, drew the ire of censors. The banning of Credo marked a pivotal moment: Pärt fell into a period of near-total withdrawal from composition during which he immersed himself in Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony and early Orthodox music. And, out of this silence emerged a new voice – a radically simplified and spiritually charged idiom he calls tintinnabuli, derived from the Latin for 'little bells'. This technique, first heard in the three-minute piano piece Für Alina (1976), pairs a melodic voice (often stepwise and chant-like) with a harmonic voice that is limited to the notes of a tonic triad (the first, third and fifth notes of a major or minor scale). Pärt considers the two lines to be a single sound, as in the formula suggested by his wife, Nora: 1+1=1. The effect is ethereal and introspective, at once ancient and modern. Pärt's tintinnabuli is not so much a system, but more of an attitude: a way of stripping music down to its essence in order to open a space for contemplation. In 1980, Pärt left Estonia with his family, first settling in Vienna and later in Berlin. Freed from the strictures of Soviet censorship, he began to compose larger and more overtly sacred works, often using Latin or Church Slavonic texts. Major compositions such as Tabula Rasa (1977), Passio (1982), Te Deum (1984), and Miserere (1989) established him as a unique voice in late 20th-century music. These works exemplify how Pärt fused early sacred music traditions with his minimalist aesthetic to create a form of modern devotional music that speaks to both religious and secular audiences. For Pärt, faith is not a subject – it is the wellspring of his art. 'Some 30 years ago,' he said in a 2007 speech as he accepted an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Freiburg, 'I was in my great desperation ready to ask anyone how a composer ought to write music. I met a street-sweeper who gave me a remarkable reply. 'Oh,' he said, 'the composer would probably need to love each and every sound.' This was a turning point. This self-evident truth completely surprised my soul, which was thirsting for God. From then on, my musical thoughts began to move in an entirely new direction. Nothing was the same any more.' Though often described as a 'holy minimalist' (a term Pärt does not like since he considers it meaningless), his work resists easy categorisation. Unlike the pulsating energy of American minimalists such as Steve Reich or Philip Glass, Pärt's music seeks a state of prayerfulness. 'I have discovered,' he once said, 'that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a moment of silence, comforts me.' There are also secular works inspired by art and architecture. Silhouette (2009), for example, is a short dance-like piece for string orchestra and percussion based on the elegant structural design of the Eiffel Tower, and his quasi-piano concerto, Lamentate (2002) was commissioned by London's Tate Modern and was inspired by the enormous sculpture Marsyas by Anish Kapoor. His influence extends far beyond classical music. Artists such as Björk and Radiohead have cited him as an inspiration. Film-makers such as Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, 2007) and Joss Whedon (Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015) have used his music to underscore moments of existential weight and grace. And, in recent years, cover versions of his music abound. The little piano piece Für Alina, for example, has spawned hundreds of covers from artists as diverse as jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, US ambient musician Rafael Anton Irisarri, and a YouTuber known as 'euwbah' who improvises on the piece using a cross-platform microtonal seaboard patcher (a computer program that allows the use of a keyboard to generate microtonal pitches). Pärt has not composed much in the past decade or so because of his advanced age, but a late-night Prom on 31 July – billed as a birthday tribute – is an opportunity to catch the UK premiere of his most recent work, Für Jan van Eyck (commissioned in 2020 by the city of Ghent to celebrate the restoration of the famous Van Eyck altarpiece) for mixed choir and organ. The programme – performed by acclaimed Pärt interpreters Tõnu Kaljuste and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – also complements his music with short choral works by composers he loves: Bach, Rachmaninov, fellow Estonian composer Veljo Tormis and the Ukrainian composer Galina Grigorjeva. The celebrations continue into the autumn where a series at the Barbican in London includes an interesting take on Pärt's music in a concert on 26 November which is 'refracted' (their term) through the lens of DJ Koreless and composers Sasha Scott and Oilver Coates, pointing again to the esteem for this music felt by other creators. Pärt's popularity has not diluted the intensity of his vision. If anything, it underscores the hunger many feel for what his music offers: a refuge from noise, a space for reflection, a sonic form of grace. 'The author John Updike once said that he tries to work with the same calmness like the craftsmen of the middle ages who decorated the hidden sides of the pews with their carvings, although no one would be able to see them. I try, as much as I can, to live by the same principle,' he said in a rare interview he gave in 2020. In an age of distraction and crisis, Pärt's work invites listeners into an intimate encounter with stillness. It is not escapism, but focused attention – music that opens the soul to something beyond itself. In an age increasingly defined by noise, he offers us silence not as absence, but as invitation. At 90, his music still speaks – softly, clearly, and with unwavering grace, and is always worth a listen. Arvo Pärt at 90 is at the late-night Prom on 31 July; Tabula Rasa is part of the Proms@Bristol Beacon concert on 23 August. The Barbican London's Arvo Pärt at 90 series runs from 3 October to 26 November. Andrew Shenton is a cultural critic and musician based in Boston, MA. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt.
Gizmodo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Assemble for the Classic Age of ‘Avengers' Comics in This Retro-Tinged Marvel Preview
After bringing Alex Ross back to the realm of the Fantastic Four with the release of his graphic novel Full Circle a few years ago, Abrams is returning to the world of original Marvel Comics with a new tale, with a new creative team, and some very classic Avengers. io9 can give you a sneaky look inside Chip Kidd and Michael Cho teaming up for The Avengers in The Veracity Trap, the second entry in Abrams' line of MarvelArts releases. Built around the classic early era of the Avengers—with a team including Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Giant-Man, and Hulk—The Veracity Trap sees Earth's Mightiest Heroes go toe-to-toe with Loki as he summons a veritable monster mash of creatures from across the multiverse. But once the dust settles, the Avengers will find themselves realizing that Loki's plans went beyond desires for a superheroic scrap… and confront a dire threat and hidden truths that threaten to destroy the Avengers once and for all. 'I've always held a special spot in my super-hero loving heart for the Avengers, especially the early Marvel age comics they appeared in. is a tribute to the wonder, the delight, and the zany 'anything could happen!' spirit of those stories,' Cho said in a press release about The Veracity Trap. 'Chip wrote a fantastic and heartfelt story and, in drawing this book, I tried my best to channel some of the energy and, especially, the joy that crackled from the pages of those classic comics.' And check out just what that zany spirit looks like in action as the Avengers assemble to battle Loki's hordes in our exclusive preview of The Veracity Trap below! The Avengers in The Veracity Trap hits shelves on August 5. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
In quest for ‘Heroes & Villains,' the Dunn Museum's bat-signal again calls on artist Alex Ross
Alex Ross thinks humans will always be at the forefront of comic art. The iconic artist, who has spent decades creating lifelike images of both DC and Marvel characters, knows what drives the art form. And, sorry, it isn't the killer artificial intelligence robot Ultron. 'Now that you've got machines that can do everything for us it seems, we shouldn't want to give over everything creative to artificial life,' Ross told the Tribune. 'The comics art form is still holding fast with it being created by people. And real art … is still people making art. Who else is this for except human beings? So we've got to keep that going.' And Ross isn't stopping. The legendary artist and North Shore resident — who uses gouache paints to create lifelike depictions of Marvel and DC characters — is constantly creating. Three of his new works are included in a new exhibit, 'Alex Ross: Heroes & Villains,' which opened recently at the Bess Bower Dunn Museum. Ross' work has not only returned to the museum for the first time since 2019, it also inaugurated a 3,000-square-foot addition to the Libertyville museum. With 100 portraits spanning 25 years of Ross' career, the exhibit includes pieces that have never been displayed for the public, said Steve Furnett, exhibition and collections manager at the Dunn, and a self-described comics fan. 'They're all from a mural project that Alex did for the Marvel headquarters in New York,' Furnett said. 'He painted individual characters and they are all stitched together in a giant mural. We have those individual pieces that will stand on their own, and we also are creating a giant mural that's a 180-degree arc.' A key aspect of this show is the sheer size of some of the pieces. 'Our visitors can stand in front of it and can look superhero-ish with all the other superheroes that are in there — and the villains,' Furnett said. Ross noted that the exhibit includes murals with life-size reproductions of figures that were originally painted smaller. 'This is a humanized version of these legendary figures and you can stand right next to them, and stare at what feels like life-size depictions,' Ross said. 'And it's also great for people getting pictures of themselves with life-size figures.' Visitors might not expect the Dunn to be a place where they'd be snapping selfies. Nestled in an unassuming building in northern Libertyville, the Dunn was initially known as the Lake County Discovery Museum, and was established in 1976 in Wauconda. Now named for Bess Bower Dunn, one of the first women in motion pictures and one of Lake County's earliest genealogists, the museum focuses on the county's cultural heritage and has a permanent collection that ranges from dinosaurs to technological innovations, and many things in between. The collection showcases the ice age (with a cast of a mammoth tusk) and Potawatomi history, featuring intricate Native American beadwork. Other highlights include pictures of the first schoolhouse in Libertyville in 1837 and a photo of the Highland Park resident who narrowly missed securing the patent for the telephone. 'We want to bring people in and tell the story of how people came to Lake County and what they did in Lake County and we want it to be a complete picture with all different perspectives and stories,' said Director of Education Alyssa Firkus. But Firkus emphasized that the museum also reaches beyond Lake Cook Road for some of its exhibits. The Dunn also is currently hosting 'National Geographic: The Greatest Wildlife Photographs,' which runs through Sept. 21. The inclusion of villains in Ross' current exhibit may attract a broader audience. Furnett said there weren't any villains originally in the DC portion of the show. 'Alex was kind enough to create (them), and we have them here for the first time,' he said. Ross created new portraits of Joker and Harley Quinn, and also Superman. He's quick to point out that Superman is a re-creation of his own artwork. 'I've done the painstaking thing of re-creating a painting of mine based upon looking at a copy and then re-creating it so it can be in the show and be a physical, real painting as opposed to a reproduction,' Ross said. 'I was learning how art forgery works. I was forging myself.' When he's not creating or re-creating, Ross thinks deeply about the relationship between how comics characters are being adapted into film and television, and his own work as a visual artist. 'The way I draw Thor would be more of what he's looked like historically (before the Marvel Cinematic Universe),' Ross said. 'That's where I'm trying to reflect back an influence from the outside world, which still is 'comics born.'' Ross' 2019 exhibit at the Dunn, 'Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross,' reached record audiences for the museum. Furnett remembers the anticipation. 'I got here a couple hours before opening and was sending everyone pictures of the giant line around the museum,' he said. 'Seeing the place filled with a lot of new faces and a lot of visitors in cosplay waiting to get in the Dunn Museum was pretty cool.' Alex Ross, the legendary illustrator for Marvel and DC comics, has a new 'Fantastic Four' book out just as the Marvel universe takes a next big step. Coincidence?Firkus said the 2019 exhibit was the highest grossing one for the Dunn. Ross appreciates the venue. 'It's incredibly charming and a really great place for, frankly, representing the work and showcasing it,' he said. He also hopes visitors appreciate the versions of the characters he continues to depict. 'I always want them to be impressed with the level of effort I'm putting in,' he said. 'A lot of that is affected by casting in Hollywood, and I'm always trying to regard what the characters look like from the source material.' Let's see Ultron try to top that.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
Visitors spot incredible sight in tiny Aussie bay: 'Very special'
It's a tiny bay off the coast of Shellharbour, popular with swimmers and snorkellers for its protected, clear waters. But on Monday, visitors at Bushrangers Bay, south of Sydney, were treated to the arrival of some special guests — a pod of humpback whales who could even be heard singing from the shore to the delight of onlookers. Alex Ross, a former local, was back in town visiting his children and grandchildren when he and his wife, Jenny, decided to stop by Bass Point to see if they could see any whales. 'We probably saw 10 or 15 pods down there this morning, but quite a few of them were off shore and then this pod came around just as we got there and went right into Bushrangers Bay,' he told Yahoo News. The couple watched on in awe as the pod of at least three whales swam close to shore, in and out of the bay twice. 'Bushrangers Bay is a tiny, little marine reserve. It's about the size of maybe three Olympic swimming pools,' Alex said. 'It's quite narrow… but it's deep in there. 'They just came in and hardly had enough room to turn around in there really. So that's why I was quite surprised they went in there twice!' Incredibly, there were several people swimming in the bay when the whales arrived, with one man saying he could hear them singing. 'It was the most amazing thing to hear their sounds underwater,' he wrote to Alex on Facebook. The animals were so close to shore even those on land could hear the faint songs. The rare sighting combined with their grandson's birthday on the same day made it a 'very special' experience for Alex and Jenny before they head home to New Zealand next month. Whale season kicked off just a few weeks ago, with the peak time for whale spotting usually around the end of June and throughout July. As part of their annual migration from Antarctica to the South Pacific to breed, the whales travel right along the Australian coastline — though you'd have to be lucky to see them this close. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Former GA deputy accused of attacking 3 women, 2 of them are police officers
A former Walton County Sheriff's Deputy is accused of attacking three women. Two of the victims are Georgia police officers. Police said Alex Ross assaulted the women at the Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) Council Office because he was upset about information he received regarding his post certification. 'We heard someone yelling, 'Help, help, help,'' Lt. Tim Allen with Austell Police Department told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell. Those cries came from the office, which is located in the same building as the Austell Police Department. 'When (officers) got there, the gentleman had his hand on the officer's gun, trying to get it out the holster. They were able to subdue him,' Allen said. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Aside from the two victims who were police officers, the third victim is a civilian POST employee. 'He had been there at Georgia Peace Officer Standard Training Council inquiring about his post certification. (He) wasn't happy with something that (he) was told, so he punched one of the staff members, which happens to be a certified peace officer,' Allen said. According to the warrant, Ross continued his attack by striking another Georgia peace officer and punched a civilian employee in her eye, causing bruising and swelling. All three victims were hospitalized. 'One of the police officers had a fractured bone in her face from the punch,' Allen said. Ross is facing numerous felony charges, including violation of oath by a public officer. 'It was definitely that took us all by surprise, but we were very grateful for the reaction from everybody cause it definitely could have gone the wrong way,' Allen said. Ross resigned from the Walton County Sheriff's Office in 2022, rather than be fired. Newell contacted Georgia POST to learn more about this incident and is waiting to hear back. TRENDING STORIES: At least 2 people shot after gunfire breaks out at graduation in Forest Park Kid detained after sparking massive police presence over fake threat at Gwinnett hospital Gwinnett man charged with posing as mortgage broker in $152,000 scheme [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
