Music
Kaunas string quartet – 45
About this event
Performers:
Kaunas string quartet
Karolina Beinarytė-Palekauskienė (artistic director, first violin)
Aistė Mikutytė (second violin)
Eglė Lapinskė (viola)
Kasparas Šerpytis (cello)
MINDAUGAS ZIMKUS (tenor)
GUODA GEDVILAITĖ-GÖHLE (piano)
Concert host: ŠVIESĖ ČEPLIAUSKAITĖ
Program:
JULIUS JUZELIŪNAS – String Quartet No. 1
GIEDRIUS KUPREVIČIUS – "Songs of the One-Day Homeland" for tenor and string quartet
CÉSAR FRANCK – Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 14
Celebrating its 45th anniversary, the Kaunas String Quartet is one of the most mature and prominent chamber music ensembles in Lithuania. With this concert, the quartet aims not only to mark the ensemble's anniversary but also, while fostering chamber music traditions, to strengthen the dissemination of national music and unite works of different eras and styles into a cohesive artistic program, actively collaborating with Lithuanian performers. For this occasion, the quartet has chosen a selection of Lithuanian musical heritage combined with masterpieces of world classical music.
The concert will feature the String Quartet No. 1 by Julius Juzeliūnas, marking the 110th anniversary of his birth – one of the author's most significant chamber music opuses, revealing his original musical language and modernist means of expression. The work of J. Juzeliūnas has significantly contributed to the formation of the 20th–21st-century Lithuanian compositional school, the development of a modern musical language, and the strengthening of national identity.
The quartet will also perform Giedrius Kuprevičius's work "Songs of the One-Day Homeland," which will complement the concert with a contemporary reflection on national identity and cultural memory. The lyrics of the work are based on the writings of Jonas Kossu-Aleksandravičius, Justinas Marcinkevičius, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, and Gintaras Patackas, as well as on the Lithuanian folk poetic tradition and the semantics and symbolism of the Lithuanian alphabet.
A scheduled premiere, created by a Kaunas composer, is a playful miniature with Lithuanian content, written for string quartet, voice, and piano.
Alongside the works of Lithuanian authors, the program will feature a masterpiece of the Romantic era – César Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor, considered one of this composer's most mature chamber music opuses.
