Friendship. Concert for the Jubilee Year of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

OPENING OF THE M. K. CHURLIONIS JUBILEE YEAR. CONCERT OF THE VILNIUS UNIVERSITY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Program

• Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis: Smyčcový kvartet a jiné skladby
• Leoš Janáček: Suita pro smyčce
• Antonín Dvořák: A les je tichý kolem kol pro solo a orchestr

Next year, we celebrate an extraordinary anniversary – 150 years since the birth of Lithuanian composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. The first chord of the celebrations will be struck at the end of this year, when the Vilnius University Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of conductor and artistic director Modestas Jankunas, will perform in the Czech Republic. The concert is entitled Friendship – like one of Čiurlionis' paintings – not by chance. On the occasion of the outgoing Year of Czech Music and the upcoming Jubilee Year of M. K. Čiurlionis 2025, the compositions of this great Lithuanian musician, as well as works by Czech classical composers, will be performed.

M. K. Čiurlionis is considered to be the most important Lithuanian artist of all time, and his personality combines great talent, strong imagination, passion for knowledge and, of course, Lithuanian melancholy. He can be described as a fan of synaesthesia – he saw music as colours and heard colours as music. He drew inspiration from many sources, from Eastern cultures to traditional art. He combined symbols and mythological and religious motifs from different civilizations in his work, filling his works with landscapes of his homeland, motifs of Lithuanian mythology and folk art.

Orchestra

The Vilnius University (Lithuania) Chamber Orchestra has been bringing together young people studying at Vilnius University for 45 years and has performed more than 800 concerts in Lithuania and abroad. In 2017, it was named the best ensemble at the World Orchestra Festival in Vienna and received a gold prize and a special honorary diploma.

Conductor

Modestas Jankūnas studied conducting at the Stasys Šimkus Conservatory in Klaipėda and choral and symphonic conducting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius. Since 2009 he has been the choirmaster of the Vilnius University Pro Musica Alumni Choir, since 2015 the assistant director of the Vilnius University Chamber Orchestra, and since 2019 the artistic director and conductor of this orchestra. He has conducted the orchestra in renowned concert halls in Lithuania, Vienna, Bologna, Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere. In addition to these activities, he is also active as a solo singer and participates in various projects as a conductor of orchestras and choirs.