5th International Joseph Achron Music Festival | The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind

Boris BROVTSYN (violin, Austria) Monika URBONAITĖ (violin) Jurgis JUOZAPAITIS (viola) Gleb PYŠNIAK (cello) Vytautas GIEDRAITIS (clarinet) Programme Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 Joseph Achron – “Elegy” Osvaldo Golijov – “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” One of the festival's standout chamber music evenings brings together an exceptional ensemble: internationally acclaimed violinist Boris Brovtsyn; some of Lithuania's most prominent chamber musicians – violinist Monika Urbonaitė, violist Jurgis Juozapaitis, and cellist Gleb Pyšniak – and one of the country's leading clarinettists, Vytautas Giedraitis. These musicians share active concert careers, international experience, and a keen sense of chamber music partnership. The programme brings together different eras, cultures, and musical languages. Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, will be performed – one of the composer's early chamber music masterpieces, full of romantic tension and lyricism. Alongside it will be Joseph Achron's “Elegy,” performed in Lithuania for the first time. At the heart of the evening is Osvaldo Golijov's “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” for clarinet and string quartet, also being presented in Lithuania for the first time. The work is inspired by the figure of the 13th-century kabbalist Isaac the Blind and the Jewish musical tradition. It carries echoes of prayer, chant, klezmer music, and contemporary chamber expression. The clarinet becomes the central narrative voice – at times singing, at times weeping or dancing – while the strings create an intense, shifting musical landscape. This is an evening in which music from different eras and cultures unfolds through a powerful chamber dialogue, joining romantic sensitivity, echoes of Jewish tradition, and contemporary musical imagination.

Adresas: VILNIAUS CHORALINĖ SINAGOGA