39th Klaipėda Music Spring Festival 2014

The Klaipėda Concert Hall will soon open its door to the magnificent sound of classical music: from 28 March to 24 April it will host the 39h Klaipėda Music Spring Festival. The festival’s spectacular and colourful events, embodying the harmonious synthesis of tradition and innovation, will once again captivate the Klaipėda townspeople and its visitors. Concerts of classical music, featuring large-scale musical works, will lure the audiences with the imaginative titles of the programmes and names of the acclaimed orchestras and ensembles. Exciting meetings with the outstanding Lithuanian and international artists will attract the attention of true music lovers.

Feel the beauty of melodies, harmonies and consummate forms. Listen to the sounds of reviving nature and float on the surface of the powerful sound waves. Let the power of music strengthen your soul. Absorb its irrepressible energy and enjoy the moments of joyous bliss it may bring.

“Symphonic Rendezvous” offers an evening with two Lithuanian-born artists who have received considerable repute outside the country: Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys, an artist endowed with exceptional charisma and expressive power, who has made the United States his home two decades ago; and young conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, who currently resides in Germany where she won the much-coveted Salzburg Young Conductors’ Award in 2012 and took up the post as new Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater starting with the season 2015/2016.

The programme, prepared in collaboration with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, features an interlacing of Classical, Romantic and contemporary works: Beethoven’s monumental Fifth Symphony, Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, and the symphonic piece Fires by contemporary Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė, which bears a connection to the Beethoven’s Fifth.

The appearance of St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Donatas Katkus, will pave the “Path of the Sun” into the spring. Celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year, the orchestra claims to be “the only one in Lithuania, which has tested its abilities both in open air and water, and had the guts to descend into the Devil’s Pit.”

Don’t worry, this time their appearance will not be as extreme (even though every meeting with Prof. Donatas Katkus and his companions entails a great probability of surprise). This concert will offer lots of wonderful music, in which the orchestra from Vilnius will be joined by flautist Camilla Hoitenga who belongs to the virtuoso elite of the Western Music. She is regarded as one of the trend-setting artists of our time who has enriched both the contemporary flute repertoire and the arsenal of advanced performance techniques.

 

It is often said that the sound of the cello is closest to the human voice. The voice of the cello, speaking from the depths in the hands of the programme’s conceiver Mindaugas Bačkus, will conjure up a magic ritual, shrouded in the choral textures of the Polifonija Choir. The unique voice of Viktoras Gerasimovas will soar to the transcendental heights. The Requiem by John Rutter, written in 1985 and imbued with the sense of painful loss, will radiate serene sorrow. The atypical choice of timbres in this work includes the harp, the organ, and percussion section. Conducted by Tomas Ambrozaitis, this concert titled “The Voice Speaks from the Depths” will set a genuinely contemplative tone.

 

At this edition of the festival we will have yet another possibility to relish the expressive and inspiring performance of Andres Mustonen. With great enthusiasm and no shortage of ideas, he will conduct the Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta. The concert will feature works by the Viennese classics and contemporary Estonian composers.

The programme is named after Peeter Vähi’s Antarctic Concerto, which transports the listener to the southernmost point on the globe. Written for solo guitar and orchestra, this composition is distinguished for the unusual instrumentation. Rémi Boucher will perform solo on the guitar.

 

The Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra will sound truly powerful in the programme titled “City Labyrinth” because it will be augmented to the size of a symphony orchestra. The renowned Lithuanian conductor Modestas Pitrėnas will stand at the helm of this orchestra. He is most welcomed on the conductor’s pulpit not only in Klaipėda, but also on his ever expanding concert itineraries.

At this concert he will conduct the music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, written by composers many years and many miles apart, and driven by different artistic imperatives. Thus the listeners will certainly find something to their liking either in the impressionistic landscapes or in the urban cityscapes.

 

The Klaipėda Music Spring Festival will invite its audiences to the delectable sacred music concert “The Time of the Resurrection” that will take place at the Chapel of St Francis of Assisi in Klaipėda. On the second day of Easter the Klaipėda Choir Aukuras, conducted by its artistic director Alfonsas Vildžiūnas, and with the soloists from Klaipėda, will perform Charles Gounod’s Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile.

 

The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will come to visit Klaipėda from the amber shores of Latvia. Having won accolades not only in their native country but also internationally, the orchestra continues to fascinate its audiences with the impeccable sense of ensemble and the excellent quality of sound. In its attractive concert programmes the Latvian orchestra usually presents not only the classical masterpieces but also works by the Latvian composers. The concert titled “Amber Sound Orchestra” will likewise feature the world premieres by Latvian composers, alongside Fryderyk Chopin’s Piano Concerto. In one of these premieres, one of the currently best internationally known Latvian pianists with a Lithuanian family name, Vestards Šimkus, will appear as a soloist.

 

The festival’s closing concert, “The Great Symphony for Bass”, will close the door for the magnificent sound of classical music. A number of ‘greats’ will be presented to the audiences at this concert: the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted this time by the recipient of the National Arts and Culture Prize, Robertas Šervenikas, and bass Almas Švilpa whose voice and masterful acting has captured the attention of the public and critics alike. More than 15 years ago he settled in Essen and since then has frequently appeared at the opera theatres in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. In Klaipėda he will perform a selection of operatic arias and a bass solo in Franz Schubert’s almost hour-long sumptuous Ninth Symphony.