This Week

At about the same time that Steve Reich and Philip Glass were laying the foundation for American minimalism by studying African and Asian music, the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt was delving into the mysteries of medieval European music and coming up with something equally fresh. The results of that inquiry—works of profound melancholy, yet teeming with life—have enthralled the world. The Metropolitan Museum opens its performance season on Sept. 11 at the Temple of Dendur with an eightieth-birthday tribute to the composer that features members of the New Juilliard Ensemble as well as the New York City Ballet principal dancers Amar Ramasar and Rebecca Krohn, who will physicalize the hard-won serenity of Pärt’s “Fratres,” in choreography by Christopher Wheeldon (“Liturgy”).