LVSO | DAVID GERINGAS'S JUBILEE CONCERT

CONCERT PROGRAM

W. A. Mozart. Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
A. Dvořák. Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104

DAVID GERINGAS, cello
LITHUANIAN STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Conductor GINTARAS RINKEVIČIUS

One of the world's most outstanding cello virtuosos and a member of today's classical music elite, David Geringas is celebrating his 80th birthday. The artist's astonishingly wide-ranging repertoire, spanning the period from early Baroque to contemporary music, reveals an extraordinary musical curiosity, exceptionally high technical mastery and inner flexibility. D. Geringas's intellectual precision, stylistic versatility and intuitive feel for melody and tone have earned him special respect and recognition throughout the world.

Born in Vilnius, the artist studied at the M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art, in Mikhail Shenderov's cello class. In 1968 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. After winning the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970, the then 24-year-old cellist – Rostropovich's most beloved student – opened the doors of the world's most famous concert halls. Over the course of his career D.

Geringas has performed as a soloist with the world's most renowned symphony orchestras: the Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Chicago and London Philharmonics, the Montreal and Tokyo orchestras and others. In 1975 the cellist emigrated to Germany, where he currently lives in Hamburg and is a professor at the Lübeck Academy of Music. In 2002 D. Geringas was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art, and in 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

At the jubilee concert D. Geringas will perform Antonín Dvořák's (1841–1904) Cello Concerto in B minor – one of the most famous concertos of its genre in the world, also known as the "Great" or "Royal" concerto. The work's melodic thematic material and orchestration transport the listener to the refreshing landscape of Bohemia, the composer's beloved homeland.

In the first part of the concert D. Geringas will take up the conductor's baton – under his direction, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra will perform one of the world's most famous works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) – Symphony No. 40 in G minor. The summer of 1788 was an exceptionally productive time for W. A. Mozart: within three months the composer wrote his last three symphonies. Symphony No. 40 in G minor is one of only two symphonies the composer wrote in a minor key, reflecting W. A. Mozart's interest in the German spiritual and literary movement of the 1760s–80s known as „Sturm und Drang“ (Storm and Stress), in which, as a counterpoint to the rationalism of the Enlightenment prevailing at the time, dramatic feelings were brought to the forefront.