Join us on September 11 for a book talk with Estonian comic artist and illustrator Joonas Sildre on his award-winning graphic novel Between Two Sounds, based on the life of world-famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt! Presented in celebration of Pärt’s 90th birthday on this day, this program take place alongside celebrations of the composer this season at Carnegie Hall, including an October 23 performance with the Estonian Festival Orchestra.

Arvo Pärt stormed Soviet-occupied Estonia’s music scene in the 1960s as a brash young man pushing the limits of avant-garde modernism. Then he fell silent, no longer able to express what he felt through the musical language he had inherited. When he reemerged a decade later, he had found, in that silence between sounds, a new musical language inspired by ancient sacred music, the basis of his distinctive tintinnabuli technique.

Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language follows the composer’s life from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music. Based on years of research and close collaboration with Arvo Pärt himself, Joonas Sildre paints an atmospheric portrait of a restless artist who does not shy away from confronting state control or his own internal contradictions. Out in English translation by Adam Cullen, the book is the recipient of major awards including the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category, and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award  2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category.