Music
Two Weills: Between Berlin Modernism and Broadway. LSPO, Nora Petročenko, Džeraldas Bidva, Karolis Variakojis
About this event
Performers: Lithuanian symphonic wind orchestra (Chief Conductor Karolis Variakojis) Soloists: NORA PETROČENKO (mezzo-soprano), GIEDRIUS ARBAČIAUSKAS (tenor), DŽERALDAS BIDVA (violin) Conductor KAROLIS VARIAKOJIS
Program: Kurt weill – March "Berlin im Licht" for wind orchestra; Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra; Overture to "The Threepenny Opera"; Excerpts from "The Threepenny Opera": "Mack the Knife", "Ballad of the Pleasant Life"; "Lost in the Stars" from the musical of the same name; "Alabama Song" ("Whisky Bar") from the opera "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"; "Speak Low" from the musical "One Touch of Venus"; "Johnny's Song" ("Oh, the Rio Grande") from the musical "Johnny Johnson"; "September Song" from the musical "Knickerbocker Holiday"; "Stay Well" from the musical "Lost in the Stars"; "The Saga of Jenny" from the musical "Lady in the Dark"
As we await the New Year, the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra invites you to an exclusive evening, "Two Weills: Between Berlin Modernism and Broadway," which will reveal two contrasting facets of the work of one of the most prominent 20th-century German-born composers, Kurt Weill. Conductor Karolis Variakojis, together with Džeraldas Bidva, Nora Petročenko, and Giedrius Arbačiauskas, presents a program that seems to span two poles: from intellectual Berlin modernism to the glamour of American Broadway. The first part of the evening will be dominated by the "constructive" Weill: the energetic march "Berlin im Licht" and the monumental Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra (1924) will be performed—works that most vividly convey the aesthetics of the early 20th-century "New Objectivity" (Neue Sachlichkeit) and the pace of the modern metropolis. The second part of the concert will open the doors to a world of songs colored by nostalgic jazz and cabaret: from musical numbers of the cult "The Threepenny Opera" to late Broadway masterpieces such as "September Song" or "Lost in the Stars." Although his forced emigration to the USA in 1933 (after a brief stay in Paris) and the changing cultural environment pushed the composer to transform his musical language into a melodic American style, behind this external transformation remained the same ideological Weill—a creator of sharp social sensitivity, capable of masterfully combining academic craftsmanship with the appeal of popular music.
