Music
For Beethoven's birthday. Daumantas Kirilauskas
About this event
Performers: DAUMANTAS KIRILAUSKAS (piano)
Program: LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonatas: No. 30 in E major, Op. 109; No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110; No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Winner of international competitions and one of Lithuania's most prominent pianists, Daumantas Kirilauskas, will perform Ludwig van Beethoven's final three piano sonatas (Nos. 30–32, Op. 109–111) this Sunday afternoon. Composed between 1820 and 1822, these sonatas mark the maturity of the composer's late creative period and are exceptionally significant examples of this genre in music history. The author seems to step into spaces of new harmonies, an innovative perception of musical form, and a reinterpretation of the sonata genre.
D. Kirilauskas: "Beethoven's work has long since become an important part of my creative life. I have performed and recorded quite a few of his sonatas, and have also played his 3rd and 4th piano concertos, the Diabelli Variations, and performed the Choral Fantasy in Salzburg. I naturally arrived at his final sonatas as well. In fact, I studied Sonata No. 32 with my professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling while studying at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. This sonata, like a life companion, sometimes returns to my programs. I have performed Sonatas No. 29 and No. 30 in recitals in recent years as individual pieces alongside other works. With each of them, I tried to live with them for as long as possible to let them mature. I believe such a special program appropriately reflects the upcoming anniversary of the genius."
The pianist is a graduate of the Mozarteum University Salzburg (Austria), and in 2019, he was awarded the title of "Bösendorfer" artist (Austria). D. Kirilauskas has toured with concerts in almost all European countries, the USA, and Iran, and has played with all Lithuanian orchestras, as well as with Sinfonietta Riga, Kremerata Baltica, the Lappeenranta City Orchestra of Finland, and others.
The pianist is a regular participant in the international Thomas Mann Festival, the contemporary music festival "Gaida," and others, and is the first performer of many compositions, having released 15 solo albums.
