Arvo Pärt is a well-recognized composer who has dramatically shaped the way music is made. In 1976, he produced a unique musical language named tintinnabuli, which has acquired a large following and is still being enjoyed today. There is no school of composition that follows Pärt, and he does not teach composition. However, much modern music has been inspired by his tintinnabuli. His dramatic collage work "Credo" (1968) became a turning point in his oeuvre, and he withdrew and renounced the means of the speech he used in the past.

Pärt's quest for his own artistic identity continued until the end of the 1970s, culminating in an artistic crisis that lasted eight years. After his years of learning Gregorian chant, the Notre Dame School, and classical polyphony at university, the Orthodox Church employed him. Pärt' oeuvre is vibrant and varied, with many large-scale compositions for choir and orchestra, four symphonies, and several pieces for soloists and orchestra. He is renowned for his liturgical compositions, among which are his Passio (1982), Te Deum (1985), Miserere (1989/92), Kanon pokajanen (1997), and Adam's Lament (2010).