Boléro by Maurice Ravel, one of the most popular 20th century pieces for symphony orchestra, will close the orchestral music season at the National Philharmonic Hall on 8 May, at 7pm. It is a lasting tradition of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) under conductor Juozas Domarkas to round off the last concert of the season with this dynamic masterpiece that reveals colours of the orchestra in its full variety. The programme of this festive orchestral music concert will consist entirely of the 20th century music, including works by Antanas Rekašius, Albert Roussel and Jean Sibelius. Young and already internationally recognised Moldovan violinist Ilian Gârnet will join the orchestra in the performance of Sibelius Violin Concerto.

Ilian Gârnet (b. 1983) has graduated from the Chisinau Academy of Music, where he studied with Prof. B. Dubosarski, and has already become a laureate at numerous domestic and international competitions. He began competing at age nine, and most recently been a prize winner at the David Oistrakh Competition (fourth prize in 2006, third prize in 2008). He won 1st prize at the 2008 Tibor Varga Competition in Switzerland and a year ago came third at the finals of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels. He has participated in the master classes given by a number of famous violinists and went on to pursue his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland under Alexander Vinnitsky and at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels under Igor Oistrakh. As a soloist he has toured numerous countries and performed with the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Cluj Philharmonic, the Istanbul Philharmonic, and the Zurich Philharmonic orchestras.

Together with the LNSO, Gârnet is going to perform Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (1905) noted for its epic tone painting of the Finnish landscape and heroic past of the nation. This composer was best known for his symphonic works, while Concerto for Violin and Orchestra is the sole piece of the genre Sibelius has ever composed. In this particular piece, he managed to match the virtuosity and consistent development of thought. Perhaps due to the wise simplicity of music this concerto has become very popular among the audiences and performers alike.

Besides the music of Sibelius, the LNSO will perform the Music for Strings No.2 (1999) by Antanas Rekašius – a spectacular piece favoured by maestro Juozas Domarkas and by many performers, which will remind of this exceptional non-conformist Lithuanian composer and his musical style distinguished for its extraordinary expression and temperament.

The second part of the season’s closing concert will feature a symphonic work that has never been performed in Lithuania before – Symphony No.3 (1930) by French composer Albert Roussel, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A monumental composition of broad musical strokes, based on complicated contrapuntal technique, this symphony, along with Roussel’s Symphony No.4, are regarded as the best French symphonic works of the 1930s and the most vivid examples of the neo-classical trend.