PROGRAMME INTRODUCTION
Title of the concert: Schubertiade: the Wanderer, the King of the Woods, and the Thistle
Programme of the concert:
Franz Schubert - songs, hymns and ballads from various opuses.
Concert description:
Franz Schubert - the king of early Romantic melodies, composing over 600 songs in his short life of 31 years. Unrecognised during Schubert's lifetime, these expressive Lieder are now widely performed around the world. They encapsulate the great emotional world of man: love and suffering, man's conditioned nature and his inseparable relationship with nature. Usually Schubert's songs are performed with piano accompaniment, but in this concert they will sound in a different light - accompanied by classical guitar.
GABRIELĖ BUKINĖ graduated from the Academy of Music of Vytautas Magnus University in 2021. Immediately afterwards, she started working as a lecturer at the Academy and made her debut at Kaunas State Music Theatre with the leading roles in Verdi's La Traviata and Rossini's The Turk in Italy, for which she was nominated for the Golden Cross of the Stage and was awarded the Fortuna statue. In 2023, Bukina was awarded the Kaunas City Culture Prize for her theatre work, and in autumn of the same year she became the absolute winner of the international Claudia Taev Competition for Young Opera Singers, winning first prize and the Audience Choice Award. In 2024, for her roles at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Violetta in La Traviata, Zara in La Sarsuela), the soloist was named Opera Hope of the Year, and the audience voted her "Favorite Soloist of the Year".
Recognised for his sensitive musicianship and visionary programmes, guitarist ROKAS JURKUS (1999) is an active soloist, chamber musician, music producer and member of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre Orchestra. A graduate of the Lille Conservatoire of Music and Dance in France, he regularly performs in major Lithuanian and foreign concert halls and pursues creative projects. His latest project is his debut solo album "Blue Sand Pyramids", recorded in his bedroom and released in October 2023.
Another recent project is the adaptation of the piano music of the great Lithuanian artist M.K. Čiurlionis for guitar. The transcriptions created by the artist are of special significance for the Lithuanian classical music scene. With the help of the Lithuanian Music Information Centre, this sheet music publication will be available worldwide from October.
