Academy to Launch a Series of Virtual Performances
Does the announcement of quarantine mean that our life has stopped? Well, we would like to paraphrase the familiar saying and announce that we are opening a virtual window when the doors of theatres and concert halls are closed. The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre is now ready to share the precious archive of their best performances. Instead of the usual monthly repertoire of live events, LMTA invites to enjoy recordings of the most compelling concerts, contests, stage performances, meetings, short films, and even watch two sets of live electronic music!
From April 3 to 30, 6 pm, TV.LMTA.LT, the Internet platform, specifically designed for that purpose, will broadcast a variety of events. IMPORTANT: the recordings of the events will only be available on the specified date and time! Don’t miss a chance to watch the event you are interested in.
The range of the genres to be offered is truly extensive: from opera, drama, dance, and film to chamber, symphonic, choral, and jazz concerts to contests, recitals, conversations, and discussions.
LMTA Vice-Rector for Art, Prof. Dr. Ramunė Marcinkevičiūtė says: “Working on the virtual repertoire under such circumstances has been a chance to analyse the archived collection, reappreciate the recorded beauty and value of our cultural experience, and feel the strength of artistic expression the LMTA community shares. While the quality of some recordings may not be perfect (as the events were filmed for other purposes), it is the uniqueness of the content that makes it worth seeing. The LMTA Art Centre team is already preparing the repertoire for May, so even when the quarantine regulations become more lenient, we will still continue broadcasting.”
Тhe Virtual Programme starts оn 3 April, 6 pm, with The Most Excellent and Lamentable Plan B, a music, theatre and video performance based on Herluf Bidstrup’s caricatures, directed by Vidas Bareikis. Composer: Rūta Vitkauskaitė, set designer: Simona Biekšaitė, costume designer: Liuka Songailaitė, conductor: Ričardas Šumila. The première was performed on the stage of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre in 2013 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (the recording was made a year later). The performance features the-then Year 2 students who are now prominent actors at Oskaras Koršunovas’ OKT Theatre and the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre: Kęstutis Cicėnas, Jonas Braškys, Laurynas Jurgelis, Gediminas Rimeika, Eimantas Pakalka, Martynas Ališauskas, Viktorija Žukauskaitė, Taura Kvietinskaitė, Greta Petrovskytė, Paulina Taujanskaitė, Kamilė Petruškevičiūtė, Gailė Butvilaitė, and others.
On 4 April, spectators are invited to a concert by European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) which took place on 2 October 2019 in the Trakai Castle. Mettis String Quartet (Lithuania), Erlendis Guitar Quartet (Poland, Denmark), and Malion String Quartet (Germany, Finland) will perform music by J. Haydn, J.S. Bach, L. E.J. Brouwer, L. Boccherini, E. Lecuona, and B. Bartók.
5 April gives us a chance to revisit a conversation between pianist Petras Geniušas and philosopher Leonidas Donskis that took place in 2013 in the LMTA Great Hall within a cycle of recitals Masters in the Great Hall featuring laureates of Lithuanian National Culture and Art Awards. Petras Geniušas performs piano sonatas by F. Schubert and S Prokofiev.
On 7 April, we can watch a performance The Lesson directed by Augustas Gornatkevičius, based on the play by E. Ionesco. Set designer: Eglė Vitkutė, costume designer: Simona Davlidovičiūtė, composer: Jokūbas Tulaba. Actors: Kamilė Galkutė, Gabrielė Ladygaitė, Petras Šimonis. Created in 2016, the performance was filmed at LMTA Balcony Theatre in 2017.
On 9 April, we invite you to join the LMTA community in the Academy’s Great Hall and enjoy the meeting with opera soloist Asmik Grigorian. Organised on the morning of 7 September 2018, the very beginning of the academic year, the conversation took place upon the opera singer’s return to Lithuania from the Salzburg Festival where Asmik Grigorian gave a sensational performance as Salome in Romeo Castellucci’s legendary production of Strauss’s opera. Musicologist Jūratė Katinaitė hosts the conversation.
11 April invites fans of choral music to their computer screens. We will broadcast the Grand Final of 3rd Juozas Naujalis Competition for Choral Conductors (filmed on 27 October 2017 in Church of St Catherine). The choirs — LMTA mixed choir, State Choir Vilnius, Vilnius City Municipal Choir Jauna Muzika — are led by the finalists of the competition Krista Audere (Latvia, Netherlands), Jurģis Cābulis (Latvia), Linas Balandis (Lithuania), Łukasz Hermanovicz (Poland), Mantvydas Drūlia (Lithuania), Gintarė Barisaitė (Lithuania). Works by J. Naujalis, J. H. Schein, A. Bruckner, Orlando di Lasso, and other composers will be performed.
On 13 April, we will host a discussion Do Artists Need Managers? filmed at the LMTA Balcony Theatre in 2018. The discussion features Vygintas Gasparavičius, a lecturer at LMTA Art Management Department; a performing art manager Giedrė Putramentaitė; and Julijus Grickevičius, the-then Marketing Manager at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. The event is moderated by Dominyka Murauskytė, a LMTA musicology student.
On 15 April, let us remember the 5th International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists in 2017 and enjoy the performance of the LMTA students participating in the competition — Rakelė Chijenaitė, Ieva Daugirdaitė, Konrad Levicki, Bernardas Petrauskas playing pieces by J. S. Bach, N. Paganini, M. Ravel, A. Khachaturian, F. Waxman, and Z. Bružaitė.
April 17 offers a series of short films created by LMTA students: 0.242 of Fiction (directed by Modestas Endriuška, 2018), Place With No Walls (directed by Elizabete Mežule-Gricmane, 2017), 10 Square Metres (directed by Mindaugas Docaitis, 2017), A. A. A. (directed by Karolina Nadzeikaitė, 2019), Dad’s Gift (directed by Petras Kuneika, 2019), and So … Bye (directed by Paulius Stankevičius, 2018).
On 19 April, we are invited to enjoy Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff. Created by the LMTA Opera Studio team and performed on the stage of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall on 11 April 2018, the rendering happens to be the first performance of Falstaff in Lithuania. Conductor: Martynas Staškus, director and choreographer: Jūratė Sodytė, designers: Guoda Korsakaitė, Marina Jasinskaja, lighting designer: Giedrius Gurevičius. Soloists: Ignas Melnikas, Arminas Skirvainis, Gabrielė Kupšytė, Lubov Skrebets, Aurelija Stasiulytė, Anastasia Lebedyantseva, Juozas Janužas, Edgaras Davidovičius, Dainius Viešūnas, Paulius Prasauskas, Gediminas Paulauskas. The opera features LMTA Symphony Orchestra and LMTA Mixed Choir.
On 21 April, we will stream Justė Janulytė’s lectures The Kinetics of Sound. Spatial Aspects of Composition prepared and delivered by the composer a year earlier in the LMTA Spatial Sound Sphere. The lectures were recorded as a part of the KISS (Studio of Creative and Informative Meetings) project run by LMTA.
On 23 and 27 April, spectators are invited to concerts of live electronic music. On 23 April, you can enjoy Particles, a work by Mantvydas Leonas Pranulis, an LMTA Year 2 Digital Technologies student, a laureate of the first M. K. Čiurlionis Incentive Grant. On 27 April, we will be streaming Roberto Becerra and Mantautas Krukauskas’ work, Art Distancing.
On 25 April, LMTA Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Modestas Pitrėnas invites you to the LMTA Great Hall. You will hear C. Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Z. Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and The Firebird Suite by I. Stravinsky. Soloists: Konrad Levicki (violin), Marija Pranskutė (violin), Kristina Anusevičiūtė (viola), Tarmo Hiis (cello). Concert announcer: Justė Jankauskaitė. The concert was recorded in 2017.
Events dedicated to the International Dance and Jazz Days will culminate the virtual April repertoire. On 29 April, we can enjoy the opening performance and dance films created by the team of LMTA Department of Dance and Movement during the 2016 Summer Media Studio creative workshops. On April 30, you are invited to a jazz improvisation concert performed by Vytis Nivinskas (double-bass) and musicians from Israel – Iris Portugaly (vocal, percussion) ir Ofer Portugaly (piano). The concert took place at LMTA Balcony Theatre in 2018.
All the events start at 6 pm.
LMTA information
1 April 2020
