When the world falls silent

BENJAMIN APPL (baritone, Germany)

SIMON LEPPER (piano, United Kingdom)

The program features songs by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel, Hugo Wolf, George Butterworth, and Gustav Mahler's vocal cycle "Rückert-Lieder".

The Pažaislis Music Festival invites you to an evening of vocal music featuring baritone Benjamin Appl (Germany) and pianist Simon Lepper (United Kingdom). The performers will present the program "When the World Falls Silent", dedicated to the Lied genre repertoire.

The concert will feature songs by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel, Hugo Wolf, George Butterworth, and Gustav Mahler's vocal cycle "Rückert-Lieder". The program reveals different vocal music traditions and the subtle relationship between text and music.

B. Appl is one of today's most prominent performers of the Lied genre, performing in major European venues and having earned international recognition. The singer, awarded the Gramophone Award for Young Artist of the Year, participated in the BBC New Generation Artists program and was a member of the Wigmore Hall Emerging Talent and ECHO Rising Stars programs. He is one of the few classical singers who does not strive for the opera stage, having chosen the path of a song genre performer for his career.

His stage partner S. Lepper is a highly regarded accompanist for singers, characterized by sensitive and precise interpretation. Critics write that "S. Lepper, whose mastery blends with a true sensitivity to word and voice, is a true rarity," and "BBC Music Magazine" called the pianist a "sensational discovery."

This is a concert that invites you to focus on the voice, the text, and the sound of the music – a chamber experience that reveals the depth and emotional diversity of the song genre.