A music video of acclaimed cellist David Geringas performing Gediminas Gelgotas’ ‘To the Skies‘ for Cello & Piano is premiered on The Violin Channel’s ‘New Music Tuesday’, alongside with a short interview of the composer. Piece was recorded and filmed live on the 12th of December, 2019 – in Vilnius City Hall, Lithuania. This is already a second time Gelgotas’ music is presented in this worlds leading classical music news channel.
“Breadth of views, depth, freedom, mobility, courage and, most importantly, openness”
On March 16th, 2019, famous violin virtuoso Roman Kim will perform the Violin Concerto of Gelgotas in Vilnius, with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. An exciting concert at the Compensa Concert Hall organised by the Lithuanian Philharmonic Society will showcase the Lithuanian premiere of the latest work by Gelgotas performed by Kim for the first time, as well as conducted by the composer himself. Recently Gelgotas more and more often appears in a new role – as a conductor with various symphony and chamber orchestras, letting audiences hear his works exactly as they were meant to sound, as well as giving a fresh perspective to everyone’s favourite classical masterpieces in concert halls around Europe.
Tickets and information: https://goo.gl/Cm2VdU
Photo: Ira Weinrauch
In March 2019, Kristjan Järvi, violinist David Nebel and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic are going on tour to concert halls of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia. The tour programme is going to highlight Gelgotas’ newly written Violin Concerto No. 1 with David Nebel as a soloist. For full concert schedule and ticket information use the following link: https://baltic-sea-philharmonic.eu/music/concerts-schedule/
Gelgotas’ pieces To the Skies and Sanctifaction will be performed by a famous trumpet virtuoso Sergey Nakariakov, cellists David Geringas abnd Vytautas Sondeckis and composer himself at the great concert hall of St Petersburg on 27th February, 2019. Tickets: https://www.philharmonia.spb.ru/afisha/275120/
The World Premiere of Gelgotas’ first Violin Concerto took place on Saturday, July 7th at Kissinger Sommer festival (Max-Littmann Saal, Bad Kissingen). Solo part was performed by rising Swiss violin star David Nebel together with Maestro Kristjan Järvi and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. The premiere has already been followed by great reviews and attention from the press (after as well as prior the premiere night).
The German newspaper Main Post wrote: “The Lithuanian Gelgotas unfolds wide spaces in the large orchestra, densely woven from tight intervals. Staggered slight changes in the often blocky, fine-rhythmic, even static events achieve delicate, sometimes even dramatic reverb effects. <…> Striking colour and idyll <…> as if the composer had overheard nature <…>.”
Meanwhile, please listen to the full video on Violin Channel Youtube channel here.
A live 1.5 hour show on Gediminas Gelgotas on BR Klassik programme Sweet Spot took place on 11 June in Munich, Germany. It featured discussions on music, as well as two live on-air performances with the double bass icon Roman Patkoló.
Please find more about the BR Klassik show on Gelgotas here.
You can listen to the whole show here.
A video shot at PowerPlay studios near Zurich of Gediminas Gelgotas performing Sanctifaction with double bassist Roman Patkoló was presented by the Gramophone Magazine online as a video of the day.
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/video-of-the-day-gelgotas-sanctifaction”
Gediminas Gelgotas was interviewed by Robert Hugill for his online Planet Hugill publication upon Gediminas’ visit to the UK to record at the legendary Real World Studios with his ensemble New Ideas Chamber Orchestra NICO.
Please find an excerpt from the article bellow as well as a link to the full publication here.
Saturday, 27 January 2018
planethugill.com
Classical with a popular feel: I chat to Lithuanian composer & performer Gediminas Gelgotas
<<Excerpt>>
He is also influenced by the music that surrounds us
When I ask about the style of his own music, Gediminas is firm that it is minimalist. But admits that there are different styles of minimalism and that his own pieces do not strictly sound like American minimalism or the Baltic minimalism associated with Arvo Pärt. But Gediminas is excited by the possibilities provided by the sheer number of shapes and layers that can be developed out of the same material, and he likes to work in this focused way.
He is also influenced by the music that surrounds us in taxis, in the street, and from popular culture. He also appreciates the ability of popular music and rock music to communicate with big audiences, and some of NICO’s performing style is influenced by this. But he and the other musicians are all classically trained in music academies. Though he does not do it deliberately, he admits that his own music is impacted by these more popular influences, and he describes it as classical music with a popular feel.
Whilst he feels that anyone who likes the music of Arvo Pärt or Philip Glass would like his music, that he allows the influences of popular music into himself, into his music, partly explains why NICO’s work is so popular with younger audiences. And these influences extend to club and dance music, so that Gediminas will use the sort of strong beats that are found in dance music by, for example, using the double bass to provide a strong beat in the bass line. He also uses some electronics, as in his Symphony No. 1.
3 – 7 February 2018
The application deadline is 15 January 2018.
Composition masterclasses are a part of the BAO Academy and will be taking place predominantly in Tartu, Estonia. Tartu is considered to be the intellectual center of the country, especially since it is home to the nation’s oldest and most renowned university, the University of Tartu, established in 1632.
The accepted composition students will get the chance to work with Gediminas Gelgotas – Lithuanian composer whose music is especially captivating the new and younger audiences of the classical music world. Meanwhile, critics acclaim his unmistakably unique and highly attractive musical language.
The masterclasses shall include not only individual lessons on musical material, form, and orchestral instrumentation, but also various discussions helpful to discover and provoke different musical ideas. Students will also get a unique chance to hear their music performed by the Glasperlen Sinfonietta, conducted by the participants of the BAO Academy Conducting masterclasses. This incredible opportunity will provide a real-life experience of the situation between a composer and an orchestra, often proving to be quite a professional challenge for a young composer.
“We all are similar in a way. But also we all have some differences deep in ourselves. And I believe music writing is all about those differences. We shouldn’t be afraid of them. And if we are, we most likely will always try to ‘fit’ somewhere, or copy something, and that is not what the music writing is all about” – says Gelgotas, a long-time collaborator of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
You can read the latest news on Gediminas Gelgotas here at the Strad Magazine. Gediminas Gelgotas’ first violin concerto will be premiered at the Kissinger Sommer Festival on Saturday, 7 July 2018 by Kristjan Jarvi, David Nebel (violin) and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
The BAO Conducting Academy is a great opportunity for young composers to develop their skills, be in a supportive and dynamic atmosphere, and experience the unique moments of creation and collaboration with the orchestra.
If you have any questions, please contact bao@gmf-lanota.com
