International Klaipėda Cello Festival

The sounds of Baroque geniuses invite you on an unforgettable journey of cello masterpieces. Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra, led by Mindaugas Bačkus, will be joined by some of the most renowned cellists: they include a Grammy nominee, laureates of international competitions and professors from the world’s most famous universities. A sophisticated programme and the world’s musical elite will create an unforgettable celebration of cello music!

The most wonderful pages of music history are difficult to imagine without the cello. However, the instrument did not immediately win the right to speak in the first person on stage, i.e. as a solo instrument. It all began in the Baroque era, when the cello broke free from the shadow of its predecessor, the viola da gamba. The programme of this concert includes cello concertos by the geniuses of Baroque music: the composer of more than 500 instrumental concertos, the famous Venetian Antonio Vivaldi; Leonardo Leo, the pioneer of the Neapolitan school of composition; Giovanni Benedetto Platti, who lived and worked in Würzburg, and Luiggi Boccherini, a representative of the Galanticist style, one of the most famous cello virtuosos and composers of the time. Their works will be performed by renowned contemporary cellists and Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra.

Enrico Bronzi is Professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and has an active solo career, collaborating with artists such as Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer and Joshua Bell, and has played with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Christoph Eschenbach, Tan Dun and others. Denis Severin is Professor of Cello at the Geneva University of Music Neschatel and at the Bern Academy of Arts. He won the Echo Klassik Prize in 2015, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007, won the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2018, and is a prizewinner of several international competitions. Pavel Serbin, who specialises in early music interpretations, plays both cello and viola da gamba. He is a laureate of various competitions: the Premio Bonporti in Italy, the International Van Wassenaer Competitinion in the Netherlands, the Early Music Competition in Bruges, Belgium. He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles.