In a special show on ETV entitled "Arvo Pärt's Birthday in New York," which takes a closer look at the Carnegie Hall concert, Artistic Director Clive Gillinson sung Pärt's praises.

Gillinson said that Carnegie Hall has attracted some fantastic musicians over the years. "For me, it's wonderful that when you plan artistic projects, you know what you believe in, what you care about, but you never really know until people start buying tickets. Here (for the Pärt concert), tickets are sold out, and that's a great tribute to Arvo Pärt. It's not just about this performance, but everyone wants to hear his music," he said.

According to conductor Paavo Järvi, the concerts in New York this year dedicated to Pärt were like a fairy tale.

"This is actually an Estonian project. We have an Estonian composer, an Estonian orchestra and one of our soloists is Estonian. And you cannot find a better ambassador than Arvo Pärt," said Järvi, who, according to Gillinson, did a great job of making sure Pärt's birthday was celebrated in the legendary concert hall.

"I don't even know what I did. I just went to talk to him, saying that we have an extraordinary project, and then he started thinking that as Pärt is an extraordinary person, who else but Estonian musicians ought to be involved in this. Since they have a lot of choice, we had to tell them that if they wanted to get the best of Arvo Pärt, we could do it better than anyone else. And I think they believed us," said Järvi, who added that he doesn't visit his second homeland – the U.S. – very often these days.

"I come here when I'm conducting, but I conduct about four orchestras here. So, I come here every couple of months," Järvi said, adding that it is extremely difficult to break into the world of classical music in the U.S.

"Gillinson showed me a stack about a meter high of applications from people who send in their programs and ideas for what they would like to play at Carnegie Hall. He said that he doesn't have that many places and has to choose only the most interesting projects or those people who are so well known that there is no question about doing it," Järvi explained.

Pärt's music has been performed at Carnegie Hall since 1967.

"So, we have been supporting his music for a long time. He is one of the greatest influencers of our time, and that is true all over the world," Gillinson said.

The full ETV show "Arvo Pärdi sünnipäev New Yorgis" ("Arvo Pärt's Birthday in New York") can be seen on Jupiter (in Estonian) here.

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