Lithuanian Rhapsody. Antoni Wit, Dalia Kuznecovaitė and LNSO

Performers:
LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
Soloist DALIA KUZNECOVAITĖ (violin)
Conductor ANTONI WIT (Poland)

Programme:
MIECZYSŁAW KARŁOWICZ – Rapsodia litewska (Lithuanian Rhapsody) in A minor, Op. 11
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI – Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 1, Op. 35
ROBERT SCHUMANN – Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society presents a musical fusion of Polish and Lithuanian cultures in a concert dedicated to the Constitution Day of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. The symphonic poem Rapsodia litewska (Lithuanian Rhapsody) by Mieczyslaw Karłowicz, a composer who was born in the Vilnius province but received his musical education in Warsaw, is the only work by this composer based on Lithuanian folk music. In composing this score, Karłowicz not only recalled the Lithuanian folk songs he had heard in his childhood, but also used musical sounds to convey his childhood experiences in the Vilnius region – in his own words, the work reflects the sadness and sorrow of eternal slavery. The romantic Rapsodia litewska will be followed by Karol Szymanowski’s Violin concerto No.1 (the opus departs from the romantic tradition), and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No.4 in D minor.

Dalia Kuznecovaitė is a well-known violinist to the Philharmonic audience. She has been impressing not only Lithuanian and foreign audiences, but also juries of international competitions as a soloist and member of various chamber ensembles. Tonight, she will play Szymanowski’s work, which is considered to be the first modernist concerto for violin. The programme will be conducted by the Polish conductor and composer Antoni Wit, who studied composition with Krzysztof Penderecki and Nadia Boulanger. The conductor’s biography includes collaborations with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the London Philharmonic and others, and more than 90 CDs, most of them released by the prestigious Naxos label. Wit concentrates on the Polish repertoire of the 20th century, two opuses of which he will conduct in this concert.