MARCHES AND MANIPULATIONS: Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra | VILNIUS WINDS

At the festival, as every year, the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra presents a programme dedicated to avant-garde contemporary music, prepared by the recognized interpreter of contemporary music and the orchestra's chief conductor Karolis Variakojis. The concert will feature the work of Mauricio Kagel, a definitive pioneer of instrumental theater.

PROGRAMME

Mauricio Kagel (1931–2008)

Zehn Märsche um den Sieg zu verfehlen / Ten Marches to Miss the Victory

In the festival program dedicated to contemporary music, the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra invites the audience to a provocative performance dedicated to the work of Mauricio Kagel, one of the most prominent musical experimenters of the 20th century, a German composer of Argentine origin. The composer's name is inseparable from instrumental theatre, which masterfully intertwines satire, theatricality, and political subtext. The composer aimed for music to be not only heard, but also observed, which is why the performers in his works often become actors of sorts. The concert's composition ‘Zehn Märsche um den Sieg zu verfehlen’ (Ten Marches to Miss the Victory) and the radio play ‘Der Tribun’ (The Tribune) deconstruct the march genre (traditionally associated with military power and discipline) and turn it into a tool of manipulation, engaging the listener in an ironic dialogue about power and society.

Karolis Variakojis graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2015, in the class of Prof. Juozas Domarkas. In 2015–2020, he led the Alytus Youth Symphony Orchestra called Dream, and since 2020 he has been the chief conductor of the Lithuanian Symphony Wind Orchestra. He is one of the most active interpreters of contemporary music, the founder of the contemporary music ensemble Synaesthesis (together with composer Dominykas Digimas), a guest conductor of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and others.