Concert for the Coronation Day of Mindaugas "Sakmių suite"

Ona Kolobovaitė - soprano, Justas Šerveniks - piano


Concert for the coronation day of the State-Lithuanian King Mindaugas "Sakmių suite"

In the concert "Sakmių suita" dedicated to the coronation day of King Mindaugas of Lithuania, young generation musicians Ona Kolobovaitė (soprano) and Justas Šerveniks (piano) will invite listeners to a concert of Lithuanian music in the Baisogalas mansion. chamber music by Lithuanian composers.

Ona Kolobovaitė (soprano) - famous musician in Lithuania and the world, graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, winner of the 2009 LRT project "Triumph Arch", participant of many other projects and competitions. Ona Kolobovaitė stands out for her extremely soft timbre of voice, thus warming every note and turning her works into expressive and cozy stories.

Justas Šerveniks (piano) is a pianist who graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater and advanced at the Hanover School of Music and Theater. The pianist performs many concerts both in Lithuanian and foreign halls. Critics appreciate the music performed by Justas Šerveniks as fascinating: "<...> expressiveness, vigour, brightness of colors and characters, ability to produce a resonant sound in the entire dynamic scale, to control the listener".

Meeting with listeners in the 19th-20th centuries. will start with two songs for voice and piano "Susimatė angelėliai" and "Mikit, lankos" by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875 - 1911), one of the most famous painters and composers who lived in Lithuania. "Susimăstê angelėliai" is a song created by the composer in 1902, deciphered from the manuscripts of M. K. Čiurlionis and prepared for performance just less than ten years ago, for which the composer probably wrote the poetic text himself.

The program will continue with the songs of Kazimieros Viktoras Banaitis (1896-1963): "Water Lily", "Tulips" and "Alyvos". K.V. Banaitis' music is distinguished by its representation of "Lithuanian idylls". It's like a musical mosaic, lyrical and elegant music interwoven with the spirit of our nation and the desire to match a higher musical culture. Banaitis's works have echoes of romanticism and impressionism. We can also find points of contact in terms of musical creativity in the work of Stasios Vainiūnas (1909-1982), another composer who played at the concert. The stylistics of Vainiūnas's work evolved constantly: the first works were characterized by late romanticism, impressionism tendencies, virtuosity, later the style of the compositions gradually acquired a bright national tone. The composer was constantly looking for new ways of expression, artistic solutions, and in his late opuses he almost gave up quoting folklore, he adhered less strictly to classical forms; melody, harmony, instrumentation became more complex and colorful. At the concert, Justas Šerveniks will play S. Vainiūnas' piece for piano - "Lament".

At the end of the concert, the winner of the Lithuanian State (1981) and National Culture and Art Prizes (2001) Feliks Bajor (b. 1934) will play "Sakmių suitaų" (1968) - these are unrhymed Lithuanian folk tales, for which the music is created in imitation of the folk style, and the text is based on folk songs. fairy tales "Sakmių suite" is a combination of the creator's individuality, his ideas and the way of expression, towards which the composer has been going since his first works, consciously striving for Lithuanian authenticity. F. Bajor's artistic creation is characterized by semantic and structural features of musical prose. The whole cycle of "Sakmių suite" is framed by the opening "Prelude" and the concluding "Postlude" based on the same musical material. The suite consists of three parts, and each of them consists of three fairy tales of a related theme:

I. "Animals and People" - "Mole", "Cancer", "Squirrel and Swallow"

II. "Trees and people" - "Why don't trees talk anymore", "The ash is invisible", "Are you an oak tree"

III. "Devils and Humans" - "Devil's Jokes", "The Fearless Man", "Devils Need Girls"

According to the artist Dovilė Kazonaitė: "The composer's music fits perfectly with the texts of Lithuanian folk tales, the felt harmonies paint impressive pictures of nature and its powers. It's so suggestive that it sends chills through your body."
 

While waiting for the State Day concert, Justas Šerveniks talks about one of the special features of the concert: "Chamber music is probably the most intimate and fragile type of music. These are concerts during which a magical connection is born between the composer, the performer and the listener - a dialogue between two instruments, voice and piano, two artists".
 

Concert program:

Mykalojs Konstantinas Čiurlionis - two songs for voice and piano: "Susimăstê angelėliai" and "Mikit, lankos"

Kazimieras Viktoras Banaitis - "Water lily", "Tulips", "Lilacs"

Stasys Vainiūnas - "Lament"

Felix Bajor - "Fairytale Suite"