Two Weills: Between Berlin Modernism and Broadway. LSWO, Nora Petročenko, Džeraldas Bidva, Karolis Variakojis

Performers:
LITHUANIAN SYMPHONIC WIND ORCHESTRA
(principal conductor Karolis Variakojis)
Soloists: NORA PETROČENKO (mezzo-soprano), GIEDRIUS ARBAČIAUSKAS (tenor), DŽERALDAS BIDVA (violin)
Conductor KAROLIS VARIAKOJIS

Programme:
KURT WEILL –
March Berlin im Licht (Berlin Lit Up) for wind orchestra;
Concerto for violin and wind orchestra;
Overture to Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera);
Excerpts from Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera): Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (The Ballad of Mack the Knife), Ballade vom angenehmen Leben (Ballad of the Pleasant Life);
Lost in the Stars from the namesake musical;
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) from the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny);
Speak Low from the musical One Touch of Venus;
Johnny’s Song “When Man was First Created” from the musical Johnny Johnson;
September Song from the musical Knickerbocker Holiday;
Stay Well! from the musical Lost in the Stars;
The Saga of Jenny from the musical Lady in the Dark

As we await the New Year, the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra invites to a special evening titled Two Weills: Between Berlin Modernism and Broadway. It will reveal two contrasting facets of the creative work of Kurt Weill, one of the most prominent 20th century composers of German origin. Conductor Karolis Variakojis, together with Džeraldas Bidva, Nora Petročenko, and Giedrius Arbačiauskas, presents a programme that spans two poles: from intellectual Berlin modernism to the glamour of American Broadway. The first half of the cocnert will be dominated by the “constructive” Weill: the energetic march Berlin im Licht (Berlin Lit Up) and the monumental Concerto for violin and wind orchestra (1924) are the works that most vividly convey the aesthetics of early 20th century Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and the pace of the modern metropolis. The second half of the concert will transfer to a nostalgic world of songs tinged with jazz and cabaret: from the musical numbers of the cult classic Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) to late Broadway masterpieces such as September Song or Lost in the Stars. Although his forced emigration to the US in 1933 (after a brief stay in Paris) and the changing cultural environment prompted the composer to transform his musical language into a melodious American style, the same ideological Weill remained behind this external transformation: a creator of acute social sensitivity, capable of masterfully combining academic mastery with the appeal of popular music.