Performers:

LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Soloist MINDAUGAS BAČKUS (cello)

Conductor KASPAR ZEHNDER (Switzerland)

 

Programme:

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK – Symphonic Variations, Op. 78  ~23 min

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ – Cello Concerto No.1, H.196  ~29 min

Interval

EDWARD ELGAR – Enigma Variations, Op. 36  ~35 min

 

Total running time: ~1 h 45 min

 

Part of the ORCHESTRAL MUSIC SERIES

 

In his debut with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Kaspar Zehnder conducts works by Czech and British composers. He has regularly performed at prestigious European concert halls and at festivals of international significance upon being appointed the Principal Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia. After his remarkable debut at Milan’s La Scala in October 2007, he received offers from the Orchestre National d´Ile de France, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, and many more. Zehnder ended the 2009 with a number of Mahler concerts performed with the Prague Philharmonia and Magdalena Kožená at the National Theatre in Prague. The 2010 concert season includes opening of the Prague Castle Festival, tour with the English Chamber Orchestra in Spain, a series of concerts with Slovak Philharmonic and the Brno Philharmonic orchestras, appearance at the “Janáčkův Máj” Festival in Ostrava as well as with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

 

Mindaugas Bačkus’s wide music interests manifest not only in all-inclusive academic cello repertoire, but also in intensive search for expression means scrupulously ‘examining’ the 20th–21st-century music scores, delving in jazz projects or focusing on baroque cello idiosyncrasies. Featured on tonight’s programme the 20th-century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů’s Cello Concerto, encapsulating the tendencies of early and modern music, is a perfect example. A wide range of performing styles imbues Bačkus’s artistic vocabulary with rich palette of colours showcased in daring imagination, vibrant and suggestive intonation, lush timbral tenor and well-judged stylistic atmosphere. The cellist has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Lithuania, UK, Scotland, Germany, Sweden, Poland, the USA, Norway and France. In summer of 2009, M. Bačkus became an artistic director of the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra.

Ticket prices: Lt20 Lt30 Lt50

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