Composers are inspired by myriad sources, including a particular event, emotion, person or landscape. The prime inspiration of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, however, was suppressed for a long stretch of his career. Beginning in the 1960s, Mr. Pärt, a convert to the Eastern Orthodox faith, wrote works whose religious character irked the Soviet authorities at a time when the official credo was atheism.

Religion and composition have been intertwined throughout Mr. Pärt’s career, a synthesis that is being explored by the series of Arvo Pärt Project concerts. The composer attended an alluring performance of his “Kanon Pokajanen” (“Canon of Repentance”) on Monday evening at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum, streamed live by the Met and broadcast live on WQXR.

Image Arvo Pärt at the concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Credit... Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

The Kanon was commissioned to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Cologne Cathedral and received its premiere there in 1998, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under the direction of Tonu Kaljuste, who also led the choir here. Written almost exclusively in D minor and sung in Church Slavonic, the music is set to the text of an Orthodox hymn called the “Canon of Repentance to Our Lord Jesus Christ.”