Playbill Arts – Matthew Westphal – Arvo Pärt, whose meditative, spiritually-themed music has made him among the most popular and recorded of living classical composers, has been named the winner of the 2008 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark's top award in the field. Read more

The Copenhagen Post – The spiritual overtones of composer Arvo Pärt's music make him 'one of the most original voices of our time', and have helped him earn the 2008 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, the committee awarding the honour announced Wednesday. Read more

San Francisco Chronicle – Associated Press – Estonian composer Arvo Part won the 2008 Sonning Music Prize, Denmark's top music award, for works that are "rich in spiritual overtones," the prize committee said Tuesday. Read more

The Baltic Times – Estonian composer Arvo Part was named the winner of a Grammy Award for the record Da Pacem, a collection of works recorded by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. The award was in one of the competition's less recognized and non-televised categories – best choral performance. Another Estonian received a mention at the 49th Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 11. Estonian-born conductor Paavo Jarvi led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in two recorded performances which were named the best engineered classical album. Read more