Programme: Juozas Indra, Juozas Gruodis, Vladas Jakubėnas, Vytautas Kairiukštis, Vytautas Laurušas, Giedrius Kuprevičius, Faustas Latėnas, Justinas Marcinkevičius, a. o.

On February 15th the main stage of the Klaipėda Concert Hall will be clad with the “White Paths of Songs.” Tenor Algirdas Janutas, whose exceptional voice combines both beautiful timbre and dramatic spinto punch, and pianist Gražina Zalatorienė have prepared an all-Lithuanian programme dedicated to Lithuania’s Independence Day. Actress Gražina Urbonaitė will intervene into the mellifluous strains of music with poetic interludes. Among other poems, the verse by Justinas Marcinkevičius will sound as a meaningful commemoration of his first death anniversary.

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A recital is not only a particularly challenging, but also a very intimate experience for a performer. Even more so, if the concert is to take place at the small chamber. On February 22nd, violinist Martynas Švėgžda von Bekker will perform “Solo Meditation” at the Ground Floor Foyer. At this concert the sounds of Baroque, Romantic music and Martynas’s own solo pieces are most likely to resonate with the subtlest vibrations of the soul’s strings.

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With the participation of schoolchildren from the Klaipėda Vydūnas Secondary School and students of the Directing Department of the Klaipėda University, Faculty of the Arts
Programme: Leroy Anderson, Jürgen Zimmermann, Fernardo Barba, Michael Siefke, Mindaugas Piečaitis

An educational project “The Orchestra of Playful Music” was launched three years ago. On February 24th it will invite young fans and their families to the ninth programme, prepared by conductor Mindaugas Piečaitis in collaboration with the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra and featuring a specially invited guest Michael Siefke (body percussion, Germany). What is most curious and fascinating about this project is that all participants will play on strange instruments and other non-musical objects, including their own bodies. You shall see how harmonious all these diverse means of sound production can be in the hands of resourceful performers and how inspiring musicianship can elicit loads of positive energy. This project is being organised in association with Goethe-Institut Vilnius.

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The programme of February 29th is called “The Poet’s Love” after the famous song cycle by Robert Schumann, inspired by an overwhelming feeling. Performed by tenor Merūnas Vitulskis and pianist Justas Šervenikas on the last evening of winter, this and other works by Mikhail Glinka, Piotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninov will shroud you in the gossamer textures of Romantic songs and transport into the isles of long-forgotten memories…

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According to the performers of the programme entitled “To the Rhythm of Tango” (March 2nd), “tango means love and longing, boundless passion and sincerity, dance in music and music in dance. It helps melt down all rigidity, kindles feelings and soothes the soul. Tango is popular all around the world.” To the audience of the Klaipėda Concert Hall the quintet from Vilnius will present not only the Argentinean tango nuevo by its most famous representative, Ástor Piazzolla, but also tangos from Lithuania, Denmark and Mexico. This exciting programme will transform this expressive, erotic dance into a colourful and passionate ocean of sounds.

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Programme: Henry Purcell, Samuel Scheidt, Johann Sebastian Bach / Charles Gounod, Carl Maria von Weber, Václav Trojan, Henry Mancini, Scott Joplin

A family concert called “How the Magpie and Little Owl Listened to the Pipes” (March 3rd) will invite again the little ones and their parents to an amusing educational entertainment at which they will meet the Klaipėda Brass Quintet (Artistic Director Vilmantas Bružas) and puppeteer Linas Zubė. The latter will tell a funny story about two little birds who live in the wings of a concert hall. One day they are spotted and seized by a stage guard. They start conversation: the snoopy Magpie asks questions and the knowledgeable Owl gives prudent answers.

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The quartet, consisting of opera soloist Rafailas Karpis, pianist Darius Mažintas, percussionist Arkadijus Gotesmanas, and saxophonist Petras Vyšniauskas, will present their new project “Prayer” (March 6th), featuring the arrangements of Jewish songs sung in Yiddish and Hebrew. Two improvising artists and two classical musicians will involve into a continuous creative synthesis, which will turn the rarely performed songs into the prayers. Rafailas Karpis claims that this project will help him reach to the roots of his native culture and lend new meaning to the rich Jewish heritage which had survived in Lithuania until the World War II. The authors of many texts, to which these songs had been set, were prominent cultural figures in Lithuania of the time. This concert is a unique opportunity to hear perform these works of remarkable beauty and significance.

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“The Plenitude and Depth of Sounds” (March 9th) will unfold at the concert presented by the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra (Artistic Director Mindaugas Bačkus) and soloist Andrius Žlabys (Lithuania / USA). Earning accolades and sincere admiration from both the public and critics in Lithuania and elsewhere, the renowned pianist will perform the concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach and Alfred Schnittke. The audience in Klaipėda will have a chance to witness his “admirable sound, utter professionalism, impeccable articulation and endless palette of musical nuances, with which he reveals Bach in all its plenitude” (La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina).

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Programme: Juozas Naujalis, Stasys Šimkus, Aleksandras Kačanauskas, Darius Polikaitis, Neringa Lapinskienė, Rūta Šličkutė, Antanas Sirtautas, Vytatutas Kernagis, Gintarė Jautakaitė, Wilbur Schwandt, Don Besig

The concert “Aukuras and Kids” (March 11th) will mark the Day of Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence. Under the baton of its artistic director, Alfonsas Vildžiūnas, the Klaipėda Choir Aukuras will appear together with pianist Saulius Šiaučiulis, guitarist Viktor Timašiov and children of the choir members. Lithuanian music will predominate in the programme, so that the audience could join in and sing along with the choir, performing patriotic songs about the nation’s unity.

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Two young artists – pianist Viktoras Paukštelis and painter Irma Leščinskaitė – will make their debut with the audiovisual project “Resonant Colours” (March 13th). They will introduce a combination of classical music and abstract paintings, in which the sound will help unfold the visual layers and fields in time. In this installation the sound will become a unit of not only musical, but also architectural, physical, even symbolical measurement, which can only be revealed to an attentive listener.

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The concert of March 16th will feature an instrument of impressive size and timbre – the alpenhorn. This concert entitled “The Alpenhorn. Echoes of the Mountains” showcases this traditional instrument and its player from Italy, Carlo Torlontano, alongside the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra.
The alpenhorn was used by the shepherds to control the cattle in the mountains. The legends suggest that alphorn-like instruments had frequently been used as signal instruments in valleys throughout Europe since medieval times or earlier, sometimes substituting for the lack of church bells which signalled the beginning of a mass service or the break of war. Even though the instrument is about three meters in length, it can only produce a few notes derived from the natural harmonic series. The first compositions for this instrument were written in the second half of the 19th century.
In the hands of Carlo Torlontano the alphorn will lend a special atmosphere to this concert. Its unique sound will transport us to the distant epochs of the past. In combination with the string instruments it will become an unforgettable experience.

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Programme: Orlando Gibbons, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Russell Peck, Joe Cutler, Ástor Piazzolla, Antonio Vivaldi / Jun Nagao

The Riga Saxophone Quartet and pianist Herta Hansena from Latvia will present an exciting programme “Vivaldi in Japan” (March 21st). According to the Lithuanian member of the ensemble saxophonist Arvydas Kazlauskas, “the basis for this concert was provided by the contemporary Japanese composer Jun Nagao who has recomposed the well-known series of four violin concerti Le quattro staggioni by Antonio Vivaldi for saxophone quartet and piano. This recomposition is neither an arrangement, nor an original composition, because Vivaldi is always heard in the background.”

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The beautiful soprano of Joana Gedmintaitė will flow in mellifluous strains of “Voices of Spring” (March 23rd). The Armonas Piano Trio will perform together and alone, demonstrating the refined sense of the ensemble and unity of disparate elements of interpretation. The Romantic works featured in the programme – including Frühlingsstimmen by Johann Strauss and Seligkeit by Franz Schubert – will gladden the audience thirsty for melodious music and emotional performance.

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