For years, Arvo Pärt has ranked among the most frequently performed living composers in the world. Yet his monumental Kanon Pokajanen (1997) for four-part choir remained a rarity on concert stages, until Daniel Reuss and Cappella Amsterdam took this breathtaking masterpiece under their wing.
“Urban noise falls silent amid Pärt’s magnificent penitential psalms,” wrote Het Parool in 2023 about their concert. In a world saturated with stimuli, Kanon Pokajanen offers something radically different: repetition, focus, vocal fireworks… and silence between the notes. Cappella Amsterdam reveals how these elements come together to create an almost meditative experience, without ever becoming heavy or distant.
This hymn from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the ultimate canon of repentance, speaks in sounds that span centuries, yet feel strikingly contemporary. The music of Arvo Pärt is often described as simple, but Kanon Pokajanen shows just how intense that simplicity can be. The work opens with force and unfolds through repetition and subtle shifts. With this piece, Cappella Amsterdam demonstrates exactly why the choir is so highly regarded on the international stage.
The gifted conductor Krista Audere will lead several performances, offering her own interpretation of Pärt’s Kanon Pokajanen.
