The opening concert of the Vilnius Festival brings together two distinguished personalities of the present-day musical world – Serbian pianist Tamara Stefanović and Japanese conductor Tomomi Nishimoto. Having reached the audiences far beyond the borders of their native countries, both musicians will present their art of musical performance at the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius on 28 May, 7 pm. In addition to the classical masterpieces, such as Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite Sheherazade, the programme will also feature a contemporary piece by Rodion Shchedrin, Lithuanian Saga, dedicated to one of the most significant events in Lithuania’s history. The guests will perform together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.

The programme will open with Shchedrin’s symphonic fresco Lithuanian Saga that was premiered last year by the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev at the Vilnius Festival 2009. Rodion Shchedrin dedicated this piece to the famous Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), the 600th anniversary of which we are celebrating in 2010: “For a composer, this kind of historical material is always an exciting challenge; I instantly found myself fascinated by the theme. I subtitled my piece as a symphonic fresco, which may account for the use of broad strokes, vivid colours and a composition reminiscent of a church mural.” The same day as his Lithuanian Saga will open the Vilnius Festival, it will close the programme of the Beijing Modern Music Festival, performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Central Ballet Group under the direction of Zhang Yi. It also seems to remain in the active repertoire of the London Symphony Orchestra which is going to perform this piece in London, in November 2010 and March 2011.

For the first time on the stage of the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius the audience will be able to hear a Serbian pianist Tamara Stefanović, praised by the international press as “a fantastic and highly intelligent pianist.” Stefanović gave her first public recital at the age of seven and became the youngest student at the University of Belgrade at the age of 13. She continued her education at the Curtis Institute with Claude Frank, and subsequently studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Cologne Hochschule. Presently she is a frequent guest at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cologne and Luxemburg philharmonic, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, London’s Royal Festival and Wigmore halls, also appearing at various international festivals. Although a significant portion of her repertoire is dedicated to contemporary music, including works by Bartòk, Ligeti and Boulez, for her appearance at the Vilnius Festival she opted for Schumann’s poetic Piano Concerto in A minor, which remains one of the most popular pieces in the pianists’ repertoire for over 150 years.

Young Japanese conductor Tomomi Nishimoto has already visited Vilnius and collaborated with two orchestras: last year she toured Japan with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and this year stood at the helm of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, conducting a concert with Korean opera star Sumi Jo. This time she will conduct the same orchestra, anticipating a month-long concert tour in Japan. Born in Osaka, she graduated the Osaka College of Music and subsequently studied symphonic and operatic conducting at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia. Her fascination with Russian music as a young girl resulted in close professional relationship with this country. In 2002, she was appointed Chief Conductor of the Millennium Symphony Orchestra at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and from 2004 to 2006 she served as a Principal Guest Conductor at St. Petersburg Mussorgsky State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. Now she shares her time between Russia and Japan, conducting various orchestras.