Arvo Pärt is one of the most popular composers of our time, who has also been the world's most played living composer in classical music.

He is known for his sonorous, minimalist and atmospheric music with famous works such as "Spiegel im Spiegel" and "Für Alina".

According to music journalist Eric Schüldt, Pärt is a very worthy laureate.

"I've been going every year and hoping since the Polar Prize came along – and that's how it finally happened," he tells Kultur nyheterna.

"Found something sacred"

Eric Schüldt believes that Arvo Pärt's popularity is due to his musical language.

"He was a modernist who suddenly started daring to write very beautifully. And in the beautiful, he also found a component that had been out of music history for quite a few decades – he found something sacred. I think that's touched people.

Hear Eric Schüldt about when he got to meet this year's Polar Laureates in the clip above.