What “Druskininkai Summer with M.K.Čiurlionis” will offer this year

The celebration’s musical key will be entrusted to the Lithuanian Army Orchestra. The first events of the festival, a musical procession and a concert, will happen in the resort’s central street, with a stop at the city museum terrace, and will conclude at the Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis memorial museum for a festive opening. In the evening, organ music and choir voices will sound in Druskininkai church.

Long-running Events

The festival will last three months, until 22 September. Over 200 well-known Lithuanian masters and talented young artists, as well as performers from Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Russia and France, will participate in some forty events. Resort museums, public libraries, spa centres, hotel halls, churches, and other public spaces will sound with symphonic, chamber, choir, grand piano, violin and organ music. There will be poetry readings of Čiurlionis and Kristijonas Donelaitis, displays of art by celebrated artists and exhibitions.

The works of Čiurlionis and his contemporaries will be performed by the Lithuanian National Symphonic Orchestra (LNSO), Čiurlionis and Kaunas string quartets, Šiauliai boys and youth choir Dagilėlis, acclaimed young solo artists: Asta Krikščiūnaitė, Sabina Martinaitytė, Irena Zelenkauskaitė, Mindaugas Zimkus, Ramūnas Urbietis, Tomas Pavilionis, Mindaugas Jankauskas, Viktorija Miškūnaitė, Tomas Ladiga, Aušra Stasiūnaitė, Aušra Liutkutė, Jūratė Vizbaraitė, Ona Matusevičiūtė, Mindaugas Žemaitis and others.

Majestic organ music will sound under church domes, performed by masters of the genre Gediminas Kviklys, Jurgita Kazakevičiūtė, Jūratė Landsbergytė, Diana Encienė, Jarūnė Barkauskaitė, Živilė Survilaitė, Virginija Survilaitė and Juozas Grigas. Famous violinist Dalia Stulgytė-Schmalenber from Germany will be playing. The young performers will blend into the festival programme well with performances by violinists Gabrielė Sližytė, Barbora Valiukevičiūtė and altoist Dalia Sakavičiūtė. More experienced artists will also participate – flutists Viktorija Zabrodaitė, Vytenis Gurstis, Bronte Hudnott from Australia, Marius Pupkovas and violoncellist Ramutė Kalnėnaitė.

Novelties

Recognised young pianists Birutė Vainiūnaitė, Nadezhda Okrushko from Saint Petersburg, Daniele Buccio from Italy, Ugnius Pauliukonis and euphonist Algirdas Matonis will play in the Čiurlionis memorial museum.

New in this year’s festival – a cycle of religious music “Čiurlionio kelias” in the Old Varėna, Perloja, Merkinė and Liškiava churches.

The artistic words of actor and reciter Gražina Urbonaitė will gladden in the public library. She will be reciting works by Donelaitis, Čiurlionis, Simonas Daukantas and Justinas Marcinkevičius.
SPA Vilnius SANA halls will host composer and 2013 National Prize winner Giedrius Kuprevičius’ works with performances from the Kaunas string quartet and soloists.

Grand Finale

At the end of July, the festival will culminate with the traditional Čiurlionis study week and the international conference that will will occur simultaneously, “Čiurlionis and the world”, the Violin Music Festival and Violin Mastery School. Over 20 researchers of the works of Čiurlionis, music scholars from Lithuania, Japan, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Poland, are expected to attend the conference.

Both accomplished and aspiring performers will play in the Violin Music Festival and during the events of the 19th Violin Mastery School. The violin mastery school will be led by experienced educators – professor Stulgytė-Schmalenberg and expert teacher Gintvilė Vitėnaitė.

Goal

Four exhibitions will be an important part of the celebration: the works of famous painter Aloyzas Stasiulevičius, portraits by painter Janina Marija Mačiokaitė-Pleškūnienė, Druskininkai city artist and Druskininkai student drawings themed on Čiurlionis.

The LNSO will arrive in Druskininkai to conclude the festival. Conducted by National Prize winner Modestas Pitrėnas along with opera singers Miškūnaitė and Pavilionis, the LNSO will perform Čiurlionis’ and the most popular classical and modern composer’s music. This is because it is the goal of the Lithuanian Musician Support Fund and Druskininkai municipality hosted classical music and art festival – to better know and spread the work of Čiurlionis.

Edited by Karen Di Prima