Baltic Music Festival in London
The week-long Baltic Music Festival in London will offer ‘a little glimpse’ into the cultural scene of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It will consist of five concerts and will present classical and contemporary music from the Baltic counties. The festival will start with a concert of work by Anatolijus Šenderovas, one of the most prominent Lithuanian composers. His moderately modern musical language and intense emotional content will reveal itself in Piano Trio No. 2, Song and Dance for piano trio, Songs of Sulamite for cello and piano, and Čiurlionis’s Sketches for solo piano. One composition - Cantus in memoriam Jascha Heifetz for violin solo - will pay tribute to the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz who was born in Vilnius in 1901. Anatolijus Šenderovas has been awarded the European Composer's Prize at the Europäischer Musik Sommer Berlin (2002) and the Lithuanian National Award (1997) - the country’s highest recognition for excellence in the arts. He also has been a guest composer at the Samuel Rubin Israel Academy of Music in Tel Aviv (1990). His music has been widely performed in Europe, the USA, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and many others countries. Works by Anatolijus Šenderovas will be performed by the Orphic Trio (Orpheus Papafilippou - violin, William Routledge – cello, Rimantas Vingras – piano) – an ensemble which has already introduced work by the Lithuanian composers Bronius Kutavičius and Onutė Narbutaitė to the British public. The Orphic Trio will be in residence at the Baltic Music Festival. The concert will take place at the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5HT, on 2 November, 2014 at 6 pm.
The next day, 3 November, the London-based Latvian violinist Anete Graudina will perform a concert of Latvian music. The programme feature works by Jāzeps Vītols, Janis Porietis, Helmers Pavasars, Arvīds Žilinskis, and Georgs Pelēcis. Anete has performed widely as a recitalist and soloist in the UK at venues such as the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, St James's Piccadilly, Burgh House Hampstead, at the Edinburgh Festival, and also in Latvia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sicily and Cyprus. She will be accompanied by the Lithuanian pianist Rimantas Vingras. The concert will take place at St Peter’s Church, Notting Hill, W11 2PN and will start at 1 pm.
Music by the Estonian composers Heino Eller, Eduard Tubin, Jaan Rääts, Arvo Pärt and Tõnu Kõrvits will be performed by the EST Ensemble at St John's Church, Notting Hill, W11 2NN on 6 November at 1 pm. The EST Ensemble (Kaija Lukas - violin, Marike Kruup - violin, Siret Lust - double bass, Mirjam Mesak - soprano, Kristiina Rokashevich – piano) was formed in 2012 by Estonian musicians studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The group aims to deliver music by Estonian classical composers to a wider audience and is supported by the Estonian Embassy and The Estonian Educational Trust.
The fourth concert will take place at All Saints Church Notting Hill, W11 1JE at 7 pm and will present choral and instrumental music by Baltic composers, such as Vytautas Miškinis, Vaclovas Augustinas, Zita Bružaitė, Vidmantas Bartulis, Bronius Kutavičius, Pēteris Vasks, and Arvo Pärt. The Indian-born international cellist Anup Kumar Biswas will perform alongside the London-based Lithuanian Choir Gausa and the Orphic Trio. Anup Kumar Biswas has given concerts throughout Great Britain, including The Royal Albert Hall, St James’s Palace, Lambeth Palace, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Westminster Abbey, and St Paul’s Cathedral. He regularly broadcasts on BBC TV, ITV, Channel 4 and various BBC Radio stations. Anup has toured the USA, including performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, South Africa, Romania, Germany and Spain, performing with well-known orchestras as soloist and recitalist.
The final concert of the festival will be on the 9 November at 3 pm. Award-winning young professional Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian musicians from London’s premier music schools will perform at the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music. This is a traditional annual concert of young Baltic talent, organised by the Baltic Council in Great Britain.
'Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian people have been living in London since the 19th century. Many of their community institutions were based in Notting Hill. However, I believe that Baltic music has already crossed communal and national boundaries and is an international phenomenon. At the Baltic Music Festival we aim to present a varied and exiting programme to be enjoyed both by listeners and the performers,' says Rimantas Vingras, the Artistic Director of the Festival.
The Baltic Music Festival is organized by the London “Santara-Šviesa” club in collaboration with the Baltic Council in Great Britain and the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre. For more information please visit www.litsmeet.co.uk.
