The magnificent sound of classical music 2011

“A mild sea breeze blows whispering in the sky and carries returning birds across deep waters.”

(Vytautas Mačernis)

 

The Klaipėda Music Spring Festival returns to the Baltic seaside, bringing along migrating birds and blossoming orchards. Its 36^th edition will fill the Klaipėda Concert Hall with the magnificent sounds of music. Seven events within four weeks, synthesizing tradition and innovation, will soon capture the attention of the Klaipėda audience and guests of the city.

 

Feel the beauty of the melody, perfection of harmony and form. Hear the sounds of reviving nature and rock on the tidal waves of the ocean of sounds. Absorb the power of music: let it fill the soul and bring you joy!

 

Listen! There he “comes, roaring, over the grey land...”

The festival will open on April 6^th with the unique spectacle, combining Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc and specially composed music by Bronius Kutavičius performed by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra under Donatas Katkus. This show is presented at the Klaipėda Concert Hall through cooperation with the European Film Forum “Scanorama.”

 

According to the authors of this project, at the time when films were silent they spoke the language of images. This unique synthesis of cinematographic imagery and music will encourage the listeners to remind themselves of the time-tested art forms and experience their revival nowadays.

 

“The Enchanting Music from the Operas and Ballets” will reveal its timeless beauty on April 8^th in the performance of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Symphony Orchestra and soloists. The orchestral programme conducted by maestro Martynas Staškus includes excerpts from the ballets by Ludwig Minkus, Mikis Theodorakis, Léo Delibes, Piotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev. The LNOBT soloists Sigutė Stonytė (soprano) and Vyautas Juozapaitis (baritone) will join the orchestra in the performance of the operatic repertoire represented by the selection of arias from the operas by W.A.Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Gioachino Rossini, Georges Bizet and Amilcare Ponchielli. We are very much looking forward to experiencing this impeccable harmony of voices and symphony orchestra, an effective synthesis of music and drama which helps demonstrate the strongest human emotions on stage and speaks of true values in life.

 

Behold! “The orb of the sun sheds vibrant and surging rivers of fire wide on the ground.”

 

On April 15^th French conductor Olivier Grangean will stand at the helm of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. His appearances in concerts at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius and the Klaipėda Concert Hall are sponsored by the French Cultural Centre in Vilnius. Lithuanian-born Violist Ūla Ulijona Žebriūnaitė, currently based in Italy, will perform solo in Béla Bartók’s demanding Viola Concerto. The programme, named “The Carnival of Rome” after the title of Hector Berlioz’s overture, will also feature the Second Symphony by Johannes Brahms.

The April 20^th concert “The Vibrant and Timeless Touch of the Eternity” will focus on the anticipation of resurrection during the Holy Week. The performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will call for huge artistic forces including the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas State Choir, soloists Sandra Janušaitė (soprano), Jovita Vaškevičiūtė (mezzo-soprano), Vaidas Vyšniauskas (tenor) and Mikhail Kazakov (bass), a soloist of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. Verdi’s great masterpiece, conducted by Gintaras Rinkevičius, will provide many opportunities to experience the vibrant and timeless touch of the eternity. Although written as a traditional setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass at the end of the 19^th century, this Requiem transcended all the limitations of the genre and has been described by conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow as ‘Verdi’s latest opera, in church vestments.’

 

“All paths are now drying in the wind and the sun; and the heart, gazing at the bluish distance, is willing to fly away, along the paths of the wind.”

The Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra under Mindaugas Bačkus will perform the programme “Sonic Fantasies” on April 26^th. In this concert the orchestra will be joined by the piano duo of Vilija Poškutė and Tomas Daukantas, Lithuanian pianists who currently reside in Switzerland. Both pianists will perform Franz Schubert’s pensive Fantasy in F minor and join the orchestra in the performance of Hommage à Paul Klee, a piece by Hungarian composer Sandor Veress written as a musical portrait of the famous surrealist painter.

Having performed as a duo for almost a decade, Vilija and Tomas admit that the “piano duo is one the most difficult forms of chamber music-making. It takes many years before the ensemble achieves that harmonious blend of two individualities, which makes a duo.”

 

The Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra will round off this programme with the performance of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden (arr. for string orchestra by Gustav Mahler).

 

The videoclub on May 3^rd will introduce musicologist Jūratė Katinaitė and her topic “Opera Challenges Consumer Society… and Wins?”. She will discuss the current situation in the opera theatres, when opera looks for the ways to reach out to wider audiences. Two decades ago, Jūratė argues, “the opera was still hiding from popular culture behind the thick walls of old theatre establishment. Now it seems that pop music has pervaded all spheres of life, and the opera was confronted with new challenges.”

 

On May 4^th the Musica Humana Orchestra, the Klaipėda Choir Aukuras and soloists Julija Stupnianek (soprano) and Vilija Mikštaitė (mezzo-soprano) will sing “Gloria to the Spring.” The closing event of the festival will also feature oboist Robertas Beinaris as soloist and artistic directors of the Musica Humana Orchestra and Aukuras Choir – Algirdas Vizgirda and Alfonsas Vildžiūnas – as conductors. The programme’s centerpiece is Vivaldi’s famous Gloria.

“The Spring is reborn. Beautiful as young god: the first fragrant rain washes his body and strews burgeoning blossoms into his hair.”

 

Do you feel the powerful outbreak of classical music and waking spring approaching? The Klaipėda Music Spring returns and brings the magnificent sounds of the classic along!