Lithuania and the World. 45 Years of the Kaunas String Quartet

Performers: Kaunas string quartet GUODA GEDVILAITĖ (piano) MINDAUGAS ZIMKUS (tenor)

Program: JULIUS JUZELIŪNAS – String Quartet No. 1 CÉSAR FRANCK – Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 14 GIEDRIUS KUPREVIČIUS – Cycle for string quartet and tenor "Vienadienės Tėvynės dainos" (lyrics by Jonas Kossu-Aleksandravičius, Justinas Marcinkevičius, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, Gintaras Patackas, and Lithuanian folk poetry) ZITA BRUŽAITĖ – New work for string quartet, voice, and piano (premiere)

The Kaunas String Quartet, celebrating its 45th anniversary, is one of the most mature and prominent chamber music ensembles in Lithuania. With this concert, the quartet aims not only to commemorate the ensemble's anniversary but also to strengthen the dissemination of national music while fostering chamber music traditions, as well as to unite music from different eras and styles into a cohesive artistic program through active collaboration with Lithuanian performers.

The concert will feature Julius Juzeliūnas' String Quartet No. 1 – one of the author's most significant chamber music opuses, revealing his original musical language and means of expression. The work of J. Juzeliūnas, whose 110th birth anniversary we celebrate this year, 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.

Giedrius Kuprevičius' work "Vienadienės tėvynės dainos" will complement the program with a contemporary reflection on national identity and cultural memory. The lyrics of the piece are based on the works of Jonas Kossu-Aleksandravičius, Justinas Marcinkevičius, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, and Gintaras Patackas, as well as the Lithuanian folk poetic tradition and the semantics and symbolism of the Lithuanian alphabet. The concert also features a premiere: Kaunas-based composer Zita Bružaitė is writing a playful miniature with Lithuanian content. Alongside the works of Lithuanian authors, a masterpiece of late Romanticism will be performed – César Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor, considered one of the composer's most mature chamber music works.

This concert is a significant cultural event that combines the ensemble's mature experience, the Lithuanian musical heritage, and the European classical tradition, strengthening the cultural identity of Kaunas and all of Lithuania.