News
2021-11-29
Concert: DIALOGUES WITH ČIURLIONIS. WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE
On Wednesday 8 December, 2021, at 6 p.m. composer and violinist Mihkel Kerem (Estonia), together with pianist Rokas Zubovas, will present his new work, “Without Saying Goodbye”, based on sketches from Čiurlionis’ “Sonata for Violin and Piano”, at Vilnius Town Hall. In the last concert of the 2021 in M. K. Čiurlionis House project “Čiurlionis Dialogues”, alongside this new work, the audience will also hear works by Čiurlionis’ contemporaries Bela Bartók, Hein Eller, Leoš Janáček and Jan Sibelius. Critic Robert Maxham has written in Fanfare as follows: “Anyone who believes that the traditional tonality can only express timeworn clichés should listen to the music of Kerem.”
Mihkel Kerem embodies the tradition of renowned violinists who are not only virtuoso soloists, but also concertmasters of renowned orchestras, versatile chamber music performers, and prominent composers. The Estonian-born violinist focuses on the music of Estonia and the Baltic States, often incorporating works by composers from these countries into his repertoire. Currently Assistant Concertmaster of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (UK) and the Brandenburg Symphony (UK), Mihkel Kerem completed his studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Royal College of Music in London.
Kerem’s oeuvre currently comprises around 160 works, including 7 symphonies, numerous concertos, orchestral works, 10 string quartets, a string sextet, a string octet, 3 sonatas for violin and piano, 2 wind quintets, sonatas for alto and piano, cello and piano, and a solo piano. Kerem’s works have been performed in the USA, Russia, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and many other European countries. Kerem has been Composer-in-Residence at the renowned Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany and the Aurora Chamber Music Festival in Sweden. His works have been performed by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Neeme Järvi, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Oulu Sinfonia, Joensuu City Orchestra, Camerata Nordica and Chilingirian String Quartet.
In 2012 Toccata Classics released a CD of Kerem’s 4 violin sonatas. The second CD of Symphony No. 3 for Lamento viola and strings and string sextet was issued in 2013.
Pianist Rokas Zubovas is best known to the audience for his interpretations of Čiurlionis. He has recorded all of the composer’s piano works, and even played his famous ancestor in the feature film “Letters to Sofija”. The pianist has also organised the international chamber music and ecology festival “The Land of the Disobedient” for fifteen years, presenting from 7 to 9 thematic chamber music programmes each year.
Organiser:
M. K. Čiurlionis House
Partners:
Vilnius Town Hall
Estonian Embassy in Lithuania
Sponsor:
Lithuanian Council for Culture
The concert is part of the www.700vilnius.lt program.
The concert is free of charge. Only with ‘opportunity passport’ and registration.
2021-11-11
Live recording. Poem for Čiurlionis and Scriabin. PETER LAUL (piano)
In September, M. K. Čiurlionis’ House in Vilnius, together with partners “Tytuvėnai Festival” and the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society invited to celebrate M. K. Čiurlionis birthday with the world-renowned pianist Peter Laul (Estonia, Russia). On this special occasion, the pianist performed the program “Poem for Čiurlionis and Scriabin”, in which he juxtaposes two peer innovators active at end of the 19th c. – beginning of the 20th c., the creators who transcended their era. We are delighted that the pianist includes the works of Čiurlionis in his repertoire, thus contributing to the promulgation of Lithuanian composers’ music in the world.
Today, M. K. Čiurlionis’ House invites you to remember or re-hear the recording of this concert on the M. K. Čiurlionis House YouTube channel.
Enjoy:
Live recording from Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, Vilnius
Organizer: Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society; PI “Tytuvėnų festival”; M.K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius
Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius City municipality
This concert is a part of M. K. Čiurlionis House project “Čiurlionis Dialogues”, the main goal of which is to create a tradition to celebrate the birthday of the great Lithuanian genius at the National Philharmonic, listening to interpretations of M. K. Čiurlionis’ works performed by international music stars.
Born into a family of musicians, Laul is a graduate of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Pianist is a winner of various international competitions. Laul was applaudedby audiences in Paris (Auditorium du Louvre, Salle Gaveau, Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre du Châtelet, Musée d’Orsay)London (Wigmore Hall), New York (Lincoln Center andSteinway-Hall), St. Petersburg (Philharmonic hall andMariinsky Theatre), Moscow (Tchaikovsky Hall,Conservatory Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Utrecht (Vredenburg), Bremen (Die Glocke), Montpellier (Corum), Milan (G. Verdi Conservatory), Tokyo (Opera City Hall), the Luxembourg (Philharmonic hall), Brussels (the Théâtre royal de la monnaie) and other venues.
2021-11-04
ROKAS ZUBOVAS & PHIL VON: New album “Eiti ramyben” presentation concert
It is not easy to maintain dignity and spiritual peace in these difficult times of universal uncertainty. Well-educated and sensitive artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis found comfort and support in Lithuanian folk music during difficult moments in his life.
In the melodies and consonances polished over the centuries, the classic felt a versatility that is perfect for people of modern times as well. Not only did he enthusiastically create new, very modern music based on folk music at the time, but he also commissioned future artists to continue this work:
This assignment is consistently carried out by one of the world’s most famous music experts and performers of M.K. Čiurlionis, his great-grandson, pianist Rokas Zubovas. He has recorded and released numerous albums with music by M.K. Čiurlionis, including a monumental anthology of six CDs with the book “M.K. Čiurlionis. Pieces for piano”. As a soloist, a member of various chamber ensembles and the piano duo “Duo Zubovas”, the pianist has successfully performed in many countries in Europe, North and South America.
In 2018, Rokas Zubovas got acquainted with the French electronic and theater music creator and actor Phil Von, who has been living in Vilnius for several years.
Phil Von’s previous music, especially that of his band Von Magnet, has a strong influence on flamenco and other styles of folk music, which is why critics have called it electro-flamenco. While living in Vilnius, Phil Von created and often performs live a program of electronic interpretations of Lithuanian folk music and recordings of Lithuanian neo-folk performers. In 2019, he produced the solo album of the composer Algirdas Klova “The Flow of Versmė”.
The duo soon introduced a program in which M.K. Pieces for piano based on Čiurlionis’ Lithuanian folk songs sound in a freer, modern interpretation by Rokas Zubovas. During the concert, Phil Von transforms the sound of the piano with various electronic devices and complements it with the natural sounds of nature and electronic instruments.
Placed in a digital futuristic medium, the electronically transmuted piano chords saturated with folk music sound like a space orchestra. They seem to be looking for ways to find a way to spiritual balance in an extremely intense, aggressive everyday life, which is why the authors of the project called it “Go to Peace”.
Rokas Zubovas & Phil Von will be performing at the Church of St. Catherine, Vilnius on November 8th at 7 P.M. Ticket seller Paysera Tickets
PRE-ORDER Limited Edition 12″ Vinyl + Digital Album “Eiti ramyben” (“Go to Peace”) by Rokas Zubovas & Phil Von HERE
2021-10-27
Composer Ciurlionis showed how Lithuania sounds
Ciurlionis, you say? For the uninitiated in Lithuanian culture: Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis was the greatest composer the country produced, he was also one of the most important visual artists and a more than creditable writer. When Ciurlionis died in 1911, he left behind some 400 pieces of music and 300 paintings – and he was only thirty-five. The Limburg festival Vocallis, which took place on Friday, putted a spotlight on multi-talented Ciurlionis in its opening weekend.
Pianist Rokas Zubovas (1966) knows a handy formula for the specific gravity of Ciurlionis: “Compare it with Norway: suppose you put painter Edvard Munch and composer Edvard Grieg together in one person, then you have a nice idea.” On Friday, Zubovas and his wife, pianist Sonata Deveikyté-Zuboviené, played a ‘narrative concert’ in which Ciurlionis’ music, art and literature came together.
Pianist becomes actor
The life of Zubovas is quite intertwined with that of Ciurlionis. To begin with, he is a great-grandson of the composer-artist. In 1986 he won joint first prize in the Ciurlionis Piano Competition, which he retrospectively calls “the most important event in my life.” As a pianist, Zubovas is one of the foremost performers and advocates of his ancestor, and when he was involved as a musical advisor in the biographical film Letters to Sofija (2013) to his own surprise, he was asked to play the lead role. “I’m not an actor, but I can do things that actors can’t,” says Zubovas. The film was screened in Maastricht on Saturday afternoon.
In retrospect it is easy to say that Zubovas was born to serve as an apostle of Ciurlionis. But it wasn’t like that, he says: „Ciurlionis was not in my family big deal. I am very grateful to them for that. I wasn’t involved with him until I had to play his music at the conservatory – I met him first as a colleague, later as a family. And only during the filming did I delve into his personality. But it is strange if you have been so intensively involved with someone for over thirty years. I feel like I’ve become more and more like him.”
Synesthetic method
On Friday evening, Zubovas and his wife played a quatre-mains version of Ciurlionis’ most famous work, the symphonic poem Mice (‘In the forest’): „That is the symphonic representation of Lithuania, the absolute number 1 in the canon. We know from his letters that Ciurlionis himself played it on the piano for his friends,” explains Zubovas. After that there is “a dialogue between music and literature”, in which paintings are also shown. Zubovas plays piano solo pieces and Sonata reads. In this way visitors can form an image of Ciurlionis’ synaesthetic working method: he saw colors with sounds and vice versa. “He had an antenna for all that was new, and at the same time he was a romantic at heart.”
In the concert they follow Ciurlionis’ style development chronologically. In the beginning, around 1900, he focused on the scenic beauty of Lithuania. His interest then shifted to what Zubovas calls “the fairy tale.” „We end with the piano variations The sea from 1908, which are already very abstract. We show the painting cycle Sonata of the Zee from the same time and there is a literary fragment about the sea.”
The man who would become a national hero did not live to see Lithuania’s independence in 1918. Zubovas: “Ciurlionis led an intense life, smoked a lot, hardly ate and only drank very sweet tea. That lifestyle wrecked his body and in 1910 he collapsed. He spent the last year and a half of his life in a sanatorium, where he died of pneumonia.”
Festival Vocallis, 22/10 to 7/11, at various locations in South Limburg. Inl: festivalvocallis.nl
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NRC Culture Guide
2021-08-27
New colours for Čiurlionis’ music: flute joins piano in the new arrangements
Music Information Centre Lithuania has published Lithuania’s greatest composer and painter of all time Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis works’ arrangements for flute and piano Lakštingala (The Nightingale). The arrangements were made and proposed to be published by the members of the ensemble Duo Flupia – flutist Vilmantė Kaziulytė and pianist Kristina Ivanauskaite-Čiurilienė.
When the pianist Kristina Ivanauskaitė-Čiurilienė and the flutist Vilmantė Kaziulytė launched a chamber ensemble Duo FluPia, a natural desire to approach the music of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis born very naturally, as both Kristina and Vilmantė had been familiar with the composer’s music since childhood.
The initial inspiration arrived in 2015 when Kristina’s ear caught the song of a nightingale through an open window during a live performance of one of Čiurlionis’ piano miniatures titled, aptly, The Nightingale. The dialogue between the piano and the real bird eventually prompted the arrangement of a piece for flute and piano. Later, the two musicians arranged seven other piano compositions by Čiurlionis.
The arrangements are originally for flute and piano, but the set may also be performed by violin and piano. It is intended for anyone, from students to professional musicians, who want to include Čiurlionis’ music into their repertoire.
The arrangements are based on M. K. Čiurlionis’ early pieces. Such as Nocturne in F-sharp minor (VL 178) which include a prevailing pastoral and contemplative mood, subtle shades of harmonic changes. Also, the pieces written in the summer of 1901 in Druskininkai (VL 186, VL 187) which bear many features of Lithuanian folk songs. The remaining arrangements are based on works created after studies at the Leipzig conservatory (VL 239, VL 248, VL 268, VL 270, VL 294). The predominant chromatic harmonic language and intense polyphonic factures reveal a considerably more concentrated set of the composer’s emotions.
While setting up the eight miniatures, Kristina and Vilmantė scrutinised the compilations of the composer’s piano compositions edited by Jadvyga Čiurlionytė, Vytautas Landsbergis and Darius Kučinskas. Broadly speaking, the arrangements by Duo FluPia are based on these publications, yet they feature a number of individual interpretational nuances. Compared to the original pieces, the sound has become more ornate; the new arrangements reveal timbral dialogues between piano and flute, while the aforementioned The Nightingale now features a canon.
The activities and publications of the Music Information Center Lithuania are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.
Translated from the Lithuanian by Darius Krasauskas, edited by Howard Jarvis
Information prepared by the Music Information Centre Lithuania
Photos by Tomas Terekas
New Sheet Music of Čiurlionis Piano Works – Out Now
In collaboration with the musicologist Vytautas Landsbergis and the pianist Rokas Zubovas, who worked as editors, the Music Information Centre Lithuania has released two sheet music compilations of piano works by Lithuania’s greatest composer and painter of all time, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.
A towering figure in the history of Lithuanian music, Čiurlionis (1875–1911) was an artist who embodied the aspirations of national resurgence and was able to present this within the novel context of European art at the turn of the 20th century. More than anything, he is famous as an original painter whose visionary works often bear musical titles, such as Prelude, Fugue, and Sonata. Later he became known as Lithuania’s first modernist composer. His sets of piano miniatures, written between 1905 and 1909, are examples of late Romanticism adorned with considerable expression. To compose them, he employed motifs of folk music and certain principles of constructivism.
“For Čiurlionis, the piano was the main tool of self-expression in music,” said Rokas Zubovas, the composer’s great-grandson and a passionate promoter of his music. “His piano works might be seen as his creative laboratory, the birthplace of his most daring musical visions that often transcend the boundaries of a single artform. For Čiurlionis, the piano was the means of a physical link to music, an area to pursue improvisation and a search for artistic solutions.”
Editing and publishing piano music by Čiurlionis is, however, by no means an easy task, as he left many of his pieces unfinished, in the form of sketches. An editor, then, has to answer tough questions: should the music be left as it appears in the manuscripts or should the editor attempt to reconstruct the composer’s ideas by speculating on and interpreting the compositional traditions of the day. In other words, the editor faces the dilemma of submitting – in the subtlest form possible – a plausible interpretation of a piece, while not becoming its new author.
The pianist Rokas Zubovas has put together and edited a quite big compilation – almost 100 pages – titled Kūrinių fortepijonui rinktinė (Selected Works for Piano), which contains all of the pieces chosen for the participants of the International Čiurlionis Piano Competition. The volume includes some of the composer’s early and late works (Fugue in B-minor, Sefaa Esec Variations, Besacas Variations, etc.). It took two years for Zubovas to prepare the publication.
“My aim was to preserve, whenever possible, the authentic notation,” Zubovas said. “Some of the pieces published here had been prepared for performance by Čiurlionis himself. In many instances, his original editorial notes might help pianists understand what kind of interpretation Čiurlionis had in mind.”
In solving this editing puzzle, the musicologist, politician, historian and author Vytautas Landsbergis has offered his vision by adding dynamic signs to Čiurlionis’ piano scores and enriching their facture. Landsbergis, whose many books explore Čiurlionis, was the editor of Mažoji sonata. Mūsų dainelės (The Little Sonata. Our Dear Songs).
The first part of the publication of Mažoji sonata (The Little Sonata) is a compilation that includes four piano works (VL 269-271a), which appear in the form of a sonata and which Landsbergis has played on numerous occasions in Lithuania and beyond. “I have a vision of The Little Sonata becoming part of the repertoire of pianists as a single piece. Moreover, it could be suitable for the International Čiurlionis Piano and Organ Competition,” Landsbergis said.
The second part of the publication, Mūsų dainelės (Our Dear Songs), offers arrangements and small variations of the twelve Lithuanian folk songs expanded, enriched and sometimes rearranged by Landsbergis. “I wanted to turn a song into a larger piece suitable for performance,” he explained. “This is why I have expanded them. These are the versions I have played myself.” One variation, Lietuviška lopšinė (Lithuanian Lullaby), has never been published before. Many years ago, Čiurlionis’ sister, Jadvyga Čiurlionytė, wrote it down from memory.
The activities and releases of the Music Information Center Lithuania are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.
Selected Works for Piano (Kūrinių fortepijonui rinktinė) and Little Sonata. Our Dear Songs (Mažoji sonata. Mūsų dainelės) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis are available for purchase at our online shop musiclithuania.com.
Translated from the Lithuanian by Darius Krasauskas, edited by Howard Jarvis
Information prepared by the Music Information Centre Lithuania
2021-08-22
56TH Summer of Piano Music in Druskininkai
FESTIVAL 06 06 2021 — 28 08 M. K. ČIURLIONIS HOUSE-MUSEUM
In 1965, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of M. K. Čiurlionis, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society initiated an annual event in the city of adolescent of the most internationally appreciated Lithuanian composer and artist. Held at the memorial M. K. Čiurlionis’ house in Druskininkai, these piano recitals honor the tradition established by Čiurlionis himself: when back home on holidays, the composer himself used to perform and improvise on the piano in the evening, with family and friends all gathered outside, in the orchard, under the apple trees, listening to the music coming through the window.
Thus, it is only natural, that in forty years a tradition has developed to start and to end each piano recital with the music of M. K. Čiurlionis. Also, these concerts present primarily the prize winners of the International M. K. Čiurlionis Piano Competition.
One of the leading M. K. Čiurlionis’ scholars, Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis, reflecting on Druskininkai and Čiurlionis summarized, that „it is difficult to invent a more natural cultural event than a festival of music in Druskininkai, that commemorates the name of M. K. Čiurlionis, and is lit up by the light of his Soul”.
In 2006, “Impetus Musicus” has taken over the organization of this concert series.
Festival is held in M. K. Čiurlionis House-Museum (M. K. Čiurlionio str. 35, Druskininkai).
Program of the festival:
Want to Hear a Painting? Discover Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
An M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art volunteer and the initiator of the excursion “With the little ones around the magical world of Čiurlionis’ work” Greta Katkevičienė wrote an article “Want to Hear a Painting? Discover Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis” for the DailyArt Magazine about Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’ musical paintings – the artworks in which you can see the sound! We invite you to read the full article here.
2021-06-01
M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius invites you to take a walk along the “Trails of Angels”
The “Trails of Angels” film by Kristina Buožytė, is a work of virtual reality animation presenting the creative legacy of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, a pathfinder of interdisciplinary art and one of the pioneers of abstract art in Europe.
To the sounds of music by Čiurlionis and Mindaugas Urbaitis, the three-dimensional space opens with the viewer’s introduction to 60 of the artist’s paintings – those rarely seen or perfectly recognisable. The storyline, connecting the artist’s oeuvre and the characters of his artworks, presents the magical world created by Čiurlionis, the characters who inhabit it, and their environment. Starting the journey as a human being, the viewer will soon realise that he or she is part of the artwork, a character who has acquired wings and is looking down on the world from above. The dissolved boundaries of the world, one‘s feet sinking into a bed of mist and fog, the lights glimmering somewhere in the distance, and the all-seeing gaze powerfully convey the subtleties of this extraordinary world: the viewer’s body dissolves as if it were part of the life of angels. This is a project that has captivated many.
What a qualitative and respectful approach the creative team has used to the legacy of M. K. Čiurlionis! The world they have created simply radiates: not only with Čiurlionis’ colours and brushstrokes, but also with a certain Čiurlionis spirit. “The Trails of Angels” have surpassed my expectations, I‘ve become a fan and I feel happy – there should be more of such angels, says Rokas Zubovas, pianist and director of the M. K. Čiurlionis House.
After the experience of travelling along the “Trails of the Angels”, the visitors are welcomed to continue their acquaintance with Čiurlionis’ oeuvre by visiting the renovated M. K. Čiurlionis Memorial Room, where he lived and worked in 1907 to 1908.
The short 360-degree virtual reality project-film “Trails of Angels” was presented in the competition programme of the 75th Venice Film Festival “Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality” in 2018. In 2019, the project won the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology in the UK.
Runtime: 20 minutes
Two virtual reality stations are available at Čiurlionis House.
One visitor can use one station at a time.
TICKET seller Paysera Tickets (Link)
More info www.mkcnamai.lt
2021-03-25
Lithuanian Dream Podcast: the country’s greatest artist – Čiurlionis
LRT English is partnering up with Lithuanian Dream to bring you a weekly English-language podcast. In this installment, we speak about Mikolajus Konstantinas Čiurlionis with Kurt Van Eeghem.
“His life is his work. You cannot divide those two,” said Eeghem, a radio and TV host and author from Belgium. “You can see little mania in his paintings.
Čiurlionis (1875–1911) was a composer, writer, and a painter who produced around 400 pieces of music and created around 300 paintings. A museum with his work is located in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city.
After one faithful visit to the museum, Eeghem decided to write a book about the Lithuanian author, which is due to be released in 2022. “When I left the place, I was really in tears,” said Eeghem. “The work had hit me so hard.”
“What surprised me is the fact that this gigantic talent has not broken through in Western Europe,” said Eegham. “I think that Lithuanians don’t know anymore how unique [he] is.”
“Of course, It has to do with […] the strength of the Iron Curtain, also the domination of Russia all those years and so on, but still it’s strange,” he said, adding that Čiurlionis “must be placed between the greats” in arts.
“There were so many art movements at the end of the 19th century. And Čiurlionis knew what was happening in Europe, he was well-read, […] but he does bring along those very old, […] folk influences as well.”
“And this provides originality. And a way of expressing oneself that we […] are not used to.”
“More than half of his short life was spent on studies and all this time he has been creating, it was certainly one of the hardest working artists for all of his time.”
Čiurlionis was born in southern Lithuania, a region surrounded by lush forests and lakes.
He wanted to take care of nature and “he wanted to show [it] in his work”, said Eegham. Čiurlionis’ work allows people to feel that “the mystery of nature [is] above all [and] that’s what we should remember of his art and of his work”.
Listen to the full episode of Lithuanian Dream Podcast on Soundcloud or on Spotify.
Source:
Lithuanian Dream Podcast, LRT.lt
2021.01.24 10:00