Silhouette. Estonian Sinfonietta

Estonian Sinfonietta starts the new season with a tribute to Arvo Pärt. The “Silhouette” concert, which will include Arvo Pärt’s works as well as the world premiere of Riho Esko Maimet’s “Soliloquy”, will take place on October 5th in Arvo Pärt Center, Laulasmaa and on October 11th at the LisztFest 2025 in Budapest.

The title of the concert is inspired by Arvo Pärt’s piece. As the subtitle of the composition “Silhouette”, Hommage à Gustave Eiffel indicates, the piece is also a homage to the architect Gustave Eiffel. The term “silhouette” or shadow image is a representation formed by the outlines of light and dark surfaces. The word itself derives from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a former French finance minister, and has an intriguing rationale: Étienne de Silhouette was considered a hermit and was said to have had paper cut-outs in his house instead of furniture.

About his piece, Arvo Pärt has written: “A splendid book of illustrations of the plans and blueprints for the tower lay on my desk, captivating me. I was impressed and inspired in many different ways by Eiffel’s artistic vision, by his combination of sober rationality and elegance. From the perspective of a composer Eiffel’s tower has many features which compare to the structure of a piece of music – the connections between the structural elements, the transparency of the construction, and much more. Even stasis, such an important aspect of architecture, is also a key element of a piece of music. As regards my work Silhouette, the piece came out short and light, like a dance, a waltz, something dizzying – perhaps like the winds which caress this pointed colossus.”
(Program booklet of the premiere, translation into English by Universal Edition)