Petras Geniušas & Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra

For pianist Petras Geniušas, the stage has never been merely a place to reproduce what is written in the score — it is a space for exploration, risk-taking, and experiencing a living encounter with music anew each time. One evening, he may immerse himself in the clarity and brilliance of W. A. Mozart’s music; another, he may improvise, combine sound with theatre, or embark on unexpected creative encounters. The ability to rediscover each work and continually seek new perspectives on music has become one of the defining qualities of this Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts laureate’s artistic identity.

This time, together with the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra and concertmaster Atis Bankas, the pianist presents a programme revealing different forms of dialogue between piano and orchestra. In Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, classical elegance, transparency, and a subtle chamber-like conversation come together. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, presented in a string orchestra arrangement, pulses with an unstoppable rhythmic energy that led Richard Wagner to describe the work as the “apotheosis of dance”*. Meanwhile, Henryk Górecki’s Piano Concerto for Piano and Strings No. 40 transports listeners into the 20th century, where intensity, meditation, and a distinctive sense of time intertwine.

* Apotheosis of dance (from the Greek apotheōsis — “deification”) refers to a solemn, grand, and celebratory final section of a performance or festive concert. In choreography, it marks the highest emotional climax, when all dancers unite in a final, technically demanding, and visually spectacular culmination.