Julius Maknickas ir Emanuil Ivanov

The first Summer Moods evening will begin where the city briefly slows down — in the garden of the Carmelite Monastery. Beyond the gates, in the very heart of Vilnius Old Town, cello and piano will resonate for an intimate audience, and the festival opening will become the first invitation into a new summer ritual: a historic garden, dinner before the concert, conversations, summer light, and music experienced from up close.

The festival will open with cellist Julius Maknickas and pianist Emanuil Ivanov — two artists of the younger generation whose biographies already include the Royal Academy of Music in London, international competitions, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Wigmore Hall in London. They belong to a generation of performers for whom classical music is not a fixed form, but a living, sensitive, and highly precise conversation with the present moment.

In Vilnius, the duo will perform a programme for cello and piano filled with inner drama, shifting light, and subtle tension. The evening will begin with Witold Lutosławski’s Grave and Johannes Brahms’ Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E minor. In the second half, the programme will move into the impressionistic world of Claude Debussy and the rarely performed Sonata in D minor by Frank Bridge — music that reflects the anxiety, elegance, and fragility of early twentieth-century Europe.

Before the concert, festival guests are invited to a musical aperitif in the garden: a glass of wine, light refreshments, and a slow introduction to the evening. This is not simply a formal addition to the event, but part of the rhythm of Summer Moods: a time to arrive early, slow down, inhabit the space, have conversations, and enter the concert already attuned to the atmosphere of the place.

For the aperitif, please register by phone: +370 621 77016.

Concert Programme

Witold Lutosławski
Grave
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E minor
Intermission
Approx. 10 min.
Claude Debussy
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor
Frank Bridge
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor
Preliminary Evening Schedule
18:00–20:00 — Aperitif in the garden
20:00 — Concert
Estimated concert duration: approx. 1 hour 15 min. with intermission
Total event duration with aperitif: approx. 3 hours 15 min.