For the Birthday of M. K. Čiurlionis. Szymon Nehring Recital 2024-06-13

For the Birthday of M. K. Čiurlionis
18 September, 2024, 7 pm.

Venue:
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, Aušros Vartu str. 5, Vilnius, Lithuania

Performer:
SZYMON NEHRING (piano, Poland)

The ticket seller:
Kakava.lt

Since 2020, the Tytuvėnai Festival, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and the M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius have been organising concerts to mark the birthday of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911). This creates a tradition of commemorating the unique Lithuanian artist with performances of famous Lithuanian and foreign pianists. By including works by Čiurlionis in their repertoire, foreign performers celebrate our country’s culture and, of course, the great composer. This is even more important now that UNESCO has added the 150th anniversary of Čiurlionis’ birth to its list of anniversaries to be celebrated. Čiurlionis’ jubilee will be widely commemorated in Lithuania and worldwide in 2025.

This year, on 18 September, Szymon Nehring, a world-renowned pianist already familiar to Lithuanian audience, will celebrate Čiurlionis’ 149th birthday by performing the music of Lithuanian genius at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall. Winner of many international competitions, the Polish pianist has performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Santander, Bamberg, Marseille, Israel and Calgary symphony orchestras, Polish Sinfonia Iuventus, and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. His concert tours have taken him to Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, France, China, Ukraine, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, USA and other countries. In 2015, Nehring was a finalist at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, winning the audience prize and several special prizes. In 2016, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute released a CD of his performance at the competition. In 2017, Nehring became the only Pole so far to win one of the world’s biggest international competitions, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. This victory has opened the door to the world’s most important concert halls: Carnegie Hall in New York, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Vienna’s Musikverein and Munich’s Herkulessaal.

Tonight, Nehring will perform a set of preludes by M. K. Čiurlionis; the programme will be “framed” by the early sonatas by Beethoven and the major piano opuses by Chopin.

Programme:
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano sonata, Op. 2 No. 1
Piano sonata, Op. 31 No. 3

MIKALOJUS KONSTANTINAS ČIURLIONIS
Nocturne in C sharp minor, VL 183
Prelude in F sharp major, VL 184
Prelude in B flat major, VL 186
Ruduo (Autumn), VL 264
Impromptu in F sharp minor, VL 181
Prelude in A major, VL 335
Prelude in F sharp minor, VL 185
Nocturne in A major, VL 178

FRYDERYK CHOPIN
Impromptu in F sharp major, Op. 36
Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44

Project is co-funded by The Lithuanian Council for Culture.

Organizers:
Čiurlionis House in Vilnius
PI Tytuvėnai Festival
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society
Embassy of Poland in Vilnius
Polish Institute in Vilnius

Partners:
M. K. Čiurlionis Route
PI Impetus musicus
Knygynų tinklas VAGA

In White and Black. To mark the 25th creative anniversary of Zubovas Duo 2023-01-18

Pianists Sonata and Rokas Zubovas have celebrated the anniversary as a Piano Duo with numerous performances around the world, culminating in a concert on the Lithuanian National Philharmonic stage.

Tonight, in addition to opuses by Lithuanian composers Bronius Kutavičius and Zigmas Virkšas, the Duo will present French and German music – works by Claude Debussy and Johannes Brahms.

Programme
BRONIUS KUTAVIČIUS – Gilijos laivužis (Little Boat of Gilija)
ZIGMAS VIRKŠAS – Paskutinis rudens divertismentas (The Last Autumn’s Divertissement)
CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Lindaraja, L. 97, CD. 42; En blanc et noir (In White and Black), L. 134, CD. 142
JOHANNES BRAHMS – Sonata for two pianos in F minor, Op. 34b

Performers
SONATA DEVEIKYTĖ-ZUBOVIENĖ, ROKAS ZUBOVAS (piano duo)

The Piano Duo made its debut in Chicago in 1997. Both pianists, laureates of international competitions, studied in Lithuania, Switzerland and the USA. They have performed in major cities in the USA and Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Iran, many European countries, collaborated with various chamber and symphony orchestras, and regularly participate in international festivals in Lithuania, Norway, France, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Finland and elsewhere. For 15 years, S. and R. Zubovas were the inspirers and organisers of the music and ecology festival in Neringa The Land of Disobedient. The Duo has been intensively promoting the music of M. K. Čiurlionis around the world, as well as performing many opuses of Lithuanian music, and has premiered more than 10 works written especially for Zubovas Duo.

2023 February 8, Wednesday, 19.00
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, Vilnius
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Čiurlionis’ 147 birthday celebration in London – concert “Čiurlionis: Let‘s Dance“ 2022-09-15

Concert “Čiurlionis: Let‘s Dance“ in London on 20th September at 7 pm at Razumovsky Academy.

Join us on 20th September at 7 pm for a “Čiurlionis: Let‘s Dance“ concert. Pianists Polina Kogan, Rimantas Vingras, Sonata Zubovienė and Rokas Zubovas will perform watzes, mazurkas, polonaises and polkas by Čiurlionis alongside with same genre works by Britten, Chopin, Debussy, Szymanowski, Brahms, Grieg and Rachmaninoff. 

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) was a fascinating and multifaceted artist, a pioneer of abstract art in Europe, and a representative of the fin de siècle epoch, the symbolism, and art nouveau movements. During his short life, he composed about 400 pieces of music and created about 300 paintings. 

This concert is organised by the Lithuanian based organisation VšĮ “Bendruomenės pilietinės veiklos projektai” in collaboration with Razumovsky Academy, London “Santara-Šviesa“ club and Čiurlionis House in Vilnius. 

The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. 

For further details and booking please contact administrator2@razumovsky.org.uk

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE „SONATA SOUNDSCAPES OF M. K. ČIURLIONIS“ 2022-06-23

International conference „Sonata Soundscapes of M. K. Čiurlionis“ in Druskininkai on July 1-2.
2022 years theme – “Mythologem of Life: Sonata of the Serpent”

During the international conference “Sonata Sounds of M. K. Čiurlionis” pianist Rokas Zubovas will give a presentation on “Sounding Seas of Color. Čiurlionis and Debussy”.

Duo Zubovas: “Resounding Sea of Colour. Debussy and Čiurlionis” 2022-04-01

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Three Sketches for Symphony Orchestra “The Sea”

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875 – 1911) Symphonic poem “The Sea”

Transcriptions for piano four hands

Duo Zubovas: Sonata Zubovienė and Rokas Zubovas, piano

The program “Resounding Sea of Colours. Debussy and Čiurlionis” unites two symphonic masterpieces from the early twentieth century adapted for one piano four hands.

Debussy and Čiurlionis started composing their majestic marinist opuses in the same year, 1903. Debussy completed The Three Sketches for Symphony Orchestra “La Mer” in 1905. In the same year, the work was performed in Paris, but without much success – the language of the work was too modern for the listenner. In order to make the work accessible to wider audience, the composer also prepared and published an adaptation of the work for one piano four hands in 1905.

Čiurlionis completed his monumental symphonic poem “The Sea” in 1907, but the work was performed only in 1936, twenty-five years after composer’s death. The adaptation of Čiurlionis’ “The Sea” for piano four hands was prepared by the composer’s youngest sister Jadvyga Čiurlionytė around 1925. The adaptation, which until now remained only in manuscript format, is currently being restored and edited for the first public performance.

In 2022, these two monumental seminal early twentieth-century works will be performed for the first time in one program, revealing the kinship between the creative aspirations and ideas of two early twentieth- century geniuses, as well as highlighting the surrounding cultural context.. The program will also present for the first time a version of Čiurlionis’ symphonic poem “The Sea” for piano four hands.

In 2022, Duo Zubovas celebrates the 25th anniversary of their creative career. The Duo’s debut concert took place in Chicago in 1997. The Duo has performed in major American and Canadian cities, Argentina and Uruguay, many European countries (Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine), as well as Russia, Belarus, and Iran.

Duo Zubovas is regularly invited to participate in international festivals: France (Berlioz, 2003), Italy (Cita di Castello, 2004), Norway (Norskmusikfestucke, 2001), Slovenia (Ljubljana, 2010), Russia (Bachosluzheniye, 2009), Germany (Usedom, 2011 ), Finland (Rauma, 2013), Belarus (Piano Duo Festival, 2017), Ukraine (Kiev Easter Music Festival, 2018), the Netherlands (Festival Vocallis, 2021), and Lithuania (“Pažaislis”, “Marių klavyrai”,“ Klaipėdos pavasaris”, “Jauna muzika”,“Permainų muzika”,“ Gaida ”, Šiauliai Piano Duo Festival”, etc.). Pianists carry out educational programs in Lithuanian cities, in 2005-2019 they organized the annual international music and ecology festival “Land of the Disobedient” in Neringa.

Zubovas Duo has performed with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Belarusian State Symphony Orchestra, the Kherson Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, Šiauliai, Klaipėda, St. Christopher and Kaliningrad Philharmonic chamber orchestras, Vilnius String Quartet, Čiurlionis Quartet, as well as “Aukuras”, “Aidija”, Vilnius University, “Jauna muzika”, and “Dainava” (Chicago) choirs. The Duo performed world premieres of works written for it by more than 10 different composers.

Organiser:

Impetus musicus („Nepaklusnieji“)

Partners:

M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius

Institut Français de Lituanie

Ambassade de France en Lituanie

Varėnos kultūros centras

Druskininkų kultūros centras

M. K. Čiurlionis Route

Gravenhof

Sponsors:

Lithuanian Council for Culture
Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Kingdom of Belgium
Lithuanian Culture Institute

Concert calendar:

04.05 17:30 Varėnos Jadvygos Čiurlionytės menų mokykla (Vytauto g. 29, Varėna)

04.06 17:00 Druskininkų M. K. Čiurlionio meno mokykla(Vytauto g. 23, Druskininkai)

04.07 17:00 Alytaus muzikos mokykla (Sporto g. 12, Alytus)

04.13 17:00 Rietavo savivaldybės kultūros centras (Parko g. 5, Rietavas)

04.24 15:00 Lūznavas muiža (Pils iela 8, Lūznava, Latvija)

04.25 17:00 Zarasų meno mokykla (Dariaus ir Girėno g. 11, Zarasai)

05.01 15:00 Kasteel Sorghvliedt (Marneflaan 3, BE – 2660 Hoboken, Antverpenas, Belgija)

Kerem and Zubovas premiere Čiurlionis’ ‘Without Saying Goodbye’ 2021-12-10

VILNIUS, December 8th — This Wednesday, Estonian composer and violinist Mihkel Kerem and Lithuanian pianist Rokas Zubovas organised an important concert at the Vilnius Town Hall in occasion of the Vilnius 700 project, a long-term project to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Vilnius which will take place in 2023. The concert brought together around 150 people at Vilniaus Rotušė.

After playing pieces from well-known composers from the 19th and 20th century, such as Béla Bartók, Heino Eller, Leoš Janáček and Jean Sibelius, the two musicians played the composition ‘Without Saying Goodbye’ („Neatsisveikinęs“ in Lithuanian) that Mihkel Kerem, who has already composed over 160 pieces, created over lost musical sketches of the famed Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis who died in 1911.

The musician and painter M.K. Čiurlionis has been an important symbol of Lithuanian music and art, having participated in organising the first Exhibition of Lithuanian Art of 1907, among other events. He was also one of the 19 founders of the Lithuanian Art Society. Nowadays, Čiurlionis is regarded as a national artist and is a symbolic figure of Lithuanian art.

In a small side room of Vilnius Town Hall (Vilniaus Rotušė), Kerem and Zubovas get ready for their concert and discuss the event’s meaning.

Why was Vilniaus Rotušė chosen?

Indeed, the Town Hall was first mentioned in 1432; since then, it was rebuilt many times. The current building dates back to 1799. Today, it’s a representative monument of Lithuania, which is often visited by foreign officials, such as George W. Bush or Queen Elizabeth II.

“We’re back in this center where so much of history of Vilnius and Lithuania has happened and keeps happening,” added Kerem.

An exceptional concert

“I think this is quite a special concert because we also play other nationalist composers.  All of them were trying to create their own unique musical language based on very specific national idioms, nature and dances. The whole program is, in a way, a map of Europe in the early 20thcentury,” remarked Rokas Zubovas.

The two musicians played various music from Hungary, Estonia, Czech Republic and Finland, covering most of Eastern Europe from the North to the South.

“Not only in their own language, with Czech music of course there was a huge musical culture before. But let’s look at Lithuania, Estonia or Finland as well; we didn’t have any musical culture — it was a national awakening,” continued Mihkel Kerem.

After so many years, the legacy persists

“It’s exceptional in a sense that still, after more than 110 years after Čiurlionis died, there is still new material that surfaces and new music compositions that are written on-top of it,” pondered Zubovas, the great-grandson of M.K. Čiurlionis. The pianist is very active in making a name for his great-grandfather.

Čiurlionis died on the 10th of April 1911 of pneumonia, at the age of 35 years old.

“About 15 years ago, a manuscript of Čiurlionis’ “Sonata for violin” was uncovered among papers of his younger sister Jadvyga Čiurlionytė. These sketches of Čiurlionis’ work were just sitting, waiting for someone to touch them. I then suggested to Mihkel to look at them because he was both a violinist and composer. So, I thought that maybe these sketches should be looked at by a composer who’s also a violinist,” explained Zubovas.

‘Without Saying Goodbye’: a complicated piece to rebuild

“The sketches are very sparse and clearly were being written as a piece. It feels like he had written a lot of it and that quite a large chunk of it was missing… such as the beginning. There is no kind of basic material to really complete the piece, and I had to do something else with it, to mature this wonderful music, so it could come out somehow,” the Estonian composer described ‘Without Saying Goodbye’.

Since 2012, this project was on the back of Mihkel Kerem’s mind, having met and played with Rokas Zubovas at a concert in Estonia.

“In this work that I created, I made it into like a little ‘pedestal’ to bring these bits of genius out from the page. Because to play them as they are there really feels like you’re playing the composer’s rough thoughts and can’t present it like this. Some of it is great, some of it is really complete and… a lot of it is just two notes, four chords, something messed up, something missing. But I used all of it, and so I wrote kind of my own piece around it as like a cushion to support his work,” clarified Mihkel Kerem.

A piece with historical value

“Here we’re talking about something that was written in the late 19th century: approximately around 1897-1898, nobody knows exactly, because small sketches are all we have. Which historically would make it the very first Lithuanian chamber-sonata,” explained the Lithuanian pianist.

Historically, the first Lithuanian chamber-sonata, a musical composition usually comprised of four movements and is commonly played at secular events, was composed by Juozas Gruodis with his ‘Sonata for violin and piano in D minor’ written in 1922. If completed 25 years earlier, this piece made by Čiurlionis, would have been the first.

“I suppose that makes Čiurlionis very special, a piece that- if it would have been completed -would have been the first, is premiered 125 years later,” concluded Kerem.

‘Without Saying Goodbye’ — living beyond the grave as an artist

“I imagine this as a link between his youth because the piece was written when he was very young. But also it is the very end of his life, because it feels that there are bits that you just remember from his earlier life; it’s still a very tragic way he died, it’s a problematic thing isn’t it? So it represents his life that was cut short and also that he couldn’t say ‘goodbye’ or even ‘hello’ to his little daughter that he never saw,” said Kerem justifying the name of the piece.

Unfortunately, Čiurlionis never saw his daughter Danutė, who was born on June 12th1910. At the time, he was held at the “Czerwony Dwór” (Red Manor) hospital near Warsaw, where he caught a cold and died shortly after of pneumonia, on the April 10th 1911.

“People or composers and artists like Čiurlionis really don’t plan to die, and leave quite a lot to finish for the future generations. So, it is as if they’re never saying ‘goodbye’. You’re still finding things as if he just left the room and came back. His musical list of compositions becomes fuller and fuller even though he’s been dead for more than a hundred years,” wrapped up Rokas Zubovas.

—for The Lithuania Tribune by Lukas BARBIER (www.lukasbarbier.com)

ROKAS ZUBOVAS & PHIL VON: New album “Eiti ramyben” presentation concert 2021-11-03

Rokas & Phil @ EitiRamybėn by Mindaugas Jokubauskas

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

Composer Ciurlionis showed how Lithuania sounds 2021-10-27

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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56th Summer of Piano Music with Sten Lassmann 2021-08-26

Pianists Rokas Zubovas and Sten Lassmann

With the “56th Summer of Piano Music” concert cycle coming to an end, Sten Lassmann, a pianist and a senior lecturer in piano at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre will be performing at the M. K. Čiurlionis House-Museum, in Druskininkai on August 25th at 7 P.M. and continuing the project “Čiurlionis Dialogues”, on August 26th 6 P.M. at the M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius.

Exclusively for these two concerts, the pianist prepared a program including pieces by two Baltic country classics, Heino Eller and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis . In addition to the formerly mentioned composers, pieces by J. S. Bach and F. Chopin will also be performed.

Sten Lassmann

STEN LASSMANN has been regularly appearing as a soloist and chamber musician since winning first prize in the Sixth Estonian Piano Competition in 2002. He has performed in some of the most prestigious venues, such as the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Purcell Room in London, the Grand and Small Halls of the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire Concert Hall in Milan, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

Lassmann started his musical education at the Tallinn Central Music School in 1989 with Ell Saviauk and Ira Floss and continued at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with prof. Ivari Ilja. He later studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with prof. Brigitte Engerer and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Ian Fountain. A major musical influence also comes from his father Peep Lassmann, an esteemed professor of piano at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and a former student of Emil Gilels at the Moscow Conservatoire. In 2013, Lassmann was awarded a Ph.D. at the Royal Academy of Music in London for his research on the Estonian composer Heino Eller. He has also received the Heino Eller Music Prize (2011), the Estonian Cultural Endowment annual music prize (2015), and in 2018 was elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). Currently, Lassmann is a senior lecturer of piano at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and since 2017 the artistic director of the biannual international festival KLAVER in Tallinn.

Since 2008, he has been engaged in a project to make the first-ever recording of complete piano works by Heino Eller for Toccata Classics in London. The series will cover all of Ellerʼs 206 piano compositions on 9 CDs.

We invite you to bid farewell to this summer surrounded by great music!

56TH Summer of Piano Music in Druskininkai 2021-08-22

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:

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