Variable Forecasts and Antanas Kučinskas's Premiere. LCO, Bazarai Brothers, Karolis Variakojis

Performers: LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (Artistic Director and Conductor Sergej Krylov) Soloists: MOTIEJUS, MYKOLAS and BENEDIKTAS BAZARAI (pianos, keyboard instruments) Conductor KAROLIS VARIAKOJIS Programme: ANTANAS KUČINSKAS – Triple Concerto for Harpsichord, Piano, Prepared Piano and String Orchestra (premiere, LNF commission, 2026) OSVALDO GOLIJOV – „Tenebrae“ MICHAEL GORDON – „Weather One“ The pieces in this concert programme are uniquely interconnected and complement the overarching idea of variability and spatiality. The highlight of the evening is a new opus by composer Antanas Kučinskas, commissioned by the LNF, which will be performed alongside works by internationally acclaimed foreign authors. About his Triple Concerto, the composer says: “This is a sonic journey through the evolution of keyboard instruments, simultaneously exploring the boundaries of the classical concerto genre. The work consists of three movements (fast–slow–fast), each focusing on a specific solo instrument, thus revealing different historical and aesthetic layers. An innocent 'game' that begins in the first movement later transforms in the piece: the reconstructed timbre of the instrument introduces feelings of anxiety and threat. The Triple Concerto is not only a dialogue between three soloists and a string orchestra, leaving room for soloists' improvisation, but also a symbolic transition from Baroque clarity to today's existential tension.” The work will be performed with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra by pianists and multi-instrumentalists Motiejus, Mykolas, and Benediktas Bazarai. These performers are no strangers to a wide variety of musical experiences – from classical piano to jazz, funk, rock, electronic, and popular music scenes. What do they “forecast” this time? This question will be answered when A. Kučinskas's latest opus resonates. The programme is also enriched by “Weather One,” a composition by the eminent American minimalist Michael Gordon, who has visited Lithuania multiple times. It was created out of his interest in chaotic weather patterns, which he sought to convey through music. Argentinian and US composer Osvaldo Golijov, of Eastern European descent, combines cultural influences in his work from times when Christians, Jews, and Arabs lived in peace. His music, “flowing from three cultural streams into one,” is also associated with ideas of the boundless universe's mystery. “The compositional challenge was to write music that would sound like a spaceship flying, never touching the earth,” O. Golijov once said. Leading the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and soloists this evening is Karolis Variakojis, an experienced interpreter of contemporary music, chief conductor of the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra, and one of the founders of the contemporary music ensemble “Synaesthesis.” He has collaborated with the renowned M. Gordon, performed many of his works, and received praise from the author himself.

Adresas: Lietuvos nacionalinė filharmonija