Night Sound

Pianist Paula Bagotyriūtė is a young-generation Lithuanian performer actively creating within the fields of contemporary, improvisational, and experimental music. Having received her classical piano training at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, she has increasingly turned towards the instrument’s extended techniques, spontaneous creation, and new ways of listening. Her artistic practice unfolds across diverse musical contexts — from contemporary opera and jazz to interdisciplinary projects. Bagotyriūtė has performed at festivals including Improdimensija, Vilnius Jazz, and Operomanija, as well as in international projects in Germany, China, and Switzerland. At the heart of her work is the piano as a living sonic organism, where keys, strings, wood, and metal become different voices of a single instrument.

In Naktinis garsas (Night Sound), the pianist presents George Crumb’s Eine kleine Mitternachtmusik, a work in which the piano reveals an extraordinary palette of colours. This nine-movement cycle is conceived as a unique nocturnal fantasy inspired by jazz pianist Thelonious Monk’s composition ’Round Midnight. Yet for Crumb, the night is not merely calm or romantic — it is a mysterious space filled with echoes, unexpected sounds, and transformations.

The composer expands the traditional concept of the piano: the performer plays not only the keys but also inside the instrument itself, creating vibrating string effects, percussive sounds, and subtle timbral shades. The piano becomes almost a small orchestra, containing countless previously unheard voices. This Night Sound invites listeners into an intimate encounter with the instrument — to hear not only melodies, but also the very birth of sound, its shadows, and its nocturnal transformations.