Variable forecasts and the premiere of Antanas Kučinskas. LCO, the Bazarai brothers, Karolis Variakojis

Performers: Lithuanian chamber orchestra (Artistic Director and Conductor Sergej Krylov) Soloists: MOTIEJUS, MYKOLAS and BENEDIKTAS BAZARAS (pianos, keyboards) Conductor KAROLIS VARIAKOJIS

Program: ANTANAS KUČINSKAS – Triple Concerto for Harpsichord, Piano, Prepared Piano and String Orchestra (premiere, LNF commission, 2026) OSVALDO GOLIJOV – “Tenebrae” MICHAEL GORDON – “Weather One”

The works in this concert program are uniquely connected and complement the general idea of variability and spatiality, and the highlight of the evening is a new opus by composer Antanas Kučinskas, commissioned by the LNF, which will be performed alongside works by internationally acclaimed foreign authors. Regarding his Triple Concerto, the composer says: “It is a sonic journey through the evolution of keyboard instruments, while simultaneously exploring the boundaries of the classical concerto genre. The work consists of three parts (fast–slow–fast), each focusing on a specific solo instrument, thus opening up different historical and aesthetic layers. The innocent ‘game’ that begins in the first part transforms later in the piece: the reconstructed timbre of the instrument introduces premonitions of anxiety and threat. The Triple Concerto is not only a dialogue between three soloists and a string orchestra, leaving room for the soloists’ improvisation, but also a symbolic transition from Baroque clarity to today’s existential tension.”

The piece will be performed with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra by pianists and multi-instrumentalists Motiejus, Mykolas and Benediktas Bazaras. These performers are no strangers to a wide variety of musical experiences – from classical piano to jazz, funk, rock, electronic and popular music scenes. What do they “predict” this time? This question will be answered when A. Kučinskas’s latest opus rings out.

The program is also enriched by the composition “Weather One” by the prominent American minimalist Michael Gordon, who has visited Lithuania several times; it was created out of an interest in chaotic weather patterns, which he sought to convey in the language of music. Osvaldo Golijov, an Argentine-American composer of Eastern European descent, combines cultural influences in his work from the times when Christians, Jews, and Arabs lived in peace, and his music, “flowing from three cultural streams into one,” is also associated with ideas of the mystery of the vast universe. “The compositional challenge was to write music that sounded like a spaceship in flight, never touching the ground,” O. Golijov has said.

Leading the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and soloists this evening is the experienced interpreter of contemporary music, Chief Conductor of the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra, and one of the founders of the contemporary music ensemble “Synaesthesis,” Karolis Variakojis, who has collaborated with the famous M. Gordon, performed many of his works, and received praise from the author himself.