Opening gala concert of the international music festival "olympus musicus" in kaunas

Performers:

EVGENIA EPSHTEIN (violin, Croatia)

ROMAN FEDCHUK (violin, Czech Republic)

ALEJANDRO DRAGO (violin, USA)

NATASHA LIPKINA (violin, Germany)

RAIMONDAS BUTVILA (violin)

MARKÉTA FRAŇKOVÁ (violin, Czech Republic)

IAKOV ZATS (viola, Italy)

RAMUTĖ KALNĖNAITĖ (cello)

SERGEI KALYANOV (cello, Czech Republic)

DONALDAS RAČYS (piano)

VSEVOLOD DVORKIN (piano, Italy)

Program:

Part I

ROBERT SCHUMANN – Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105

JOHANNES BRAHMS – Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40

Part II

ERNEST BLOCH – "Vidui" ("Repentance") and "Nigun" ("Improvisation") from the cycle "Three Jewish Poems"

MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH – Etude-Caprice for solo cello in E-flat major

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY – Octet for strings in E-flat major, Op. 20

The concert will feature the most beautiful masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire performed by professional artists – representatives of several countries – who are instructors at the masterclasses organized by the "Olympus Musicus" festival in Kaunas. The evening will be crowned by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's unique Octet for strings – an opus created by the sixteen-year-old composer for four violins, two violas, and two cellos, which pioneered a new genre of chamber music.

In the first part of the concert, listeners will hear one of Robert Schumann's most mature works – although written in just a few days, it is characterized by deep emotionality and dramatic energy. Johannes Brahms' Trio in E-flat major will also be performed, written for a specific instrumentation and having become one of the composer's most personal opuses, inspired by the death of his mother.

The concert program will be enriched by fragments from Ernest Bloch's cycle "Three Jewish Poems" – the prayerful "Vidui" ("Repentance"), full of inner concentration, and the passionate "Nigun" ("Improvisation"), bursting with improvisational freedom. The possibilities of the cello will be revealed by Mstislav Rostropovich's technically demanding and virtuosic Etude-Caprice in E-flat major.