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MAESTRO DONATAS KATKUS HAS TURNED 75!

2017 09 30 d., Saturday, 5:00 PM

Kaunas State Philharmonic (E. Ožeškienės St 12, Kaunas)

A concert for the 75-th birthday of MAESTRO DONATAS JUOZO KATKUS!

ST. CHRISTOPHER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Art Direcor and Conductor Donatas Katkus

Soloist LIUDAS MOCKŪNAS (saxophone)

Program:

Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975) – Chamber Symphony Op. 110

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) – Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48

Osvaldas Balakauskas (1937) – “Polilogue”

It is hard to find such an artistic and enthusiastic personality as Donatas Katkus. He is 75, but still on going, relentless, fresh, encrusted with a rare and delicate sense of humor, a man of mood, creator and discoverer, never boring, always new DONATAS KATKUS. He is the founder and a guardian of St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, talented professor, conductor, viola player, musicologist, author of many books, loving husband, a father and a grandfather, and there is still much to discover about HIM.

A little bit about the program:

A Serenade by Pyotr Tchaikovsky was written in the Autumn of 1880 and dedicated to a cello player – Karl Albrecht. The gender is very common for the musical  performance traditions of the 18th century, even the author has once told that it was inspired by the music of Mozart and according to it’s form it is an intermediate version between a suite and a symphony.
D. Shostakovich “Chamber Symphony” – is an often played composer’s piece. Original version of it – the eight string orchestra, the only piece created while being abroad. After receiveng the agreement of the composer, the Director Moscow Chamber Orchestra Rudolf Barshai has adapted the quartet for the orchestra and eventually performed it. Composer liked this version, thus it has been added to the list of his score as an Op. 110a. You could hear nearly 20 author themes quoted during all the piece, and the composers monogram – DSCH motif – has infiltrated the piece fully.
Osvaldas Balakauskas – one of little number of Lithuanian composers who dare to ambitiously develop original system of composing. Two composing techniques are typical to his legacy: specific serialism and new dodecatonic.
A soloist of the O. Balakauskas piece – Liudas Mockūnas is a saxophonist and composer, his name alone guarantees the mastery of performance. He has great depth in primal sound knowledge, great fluency and personal style in playing wind instruments, while being all separated from the stylistic dogmas he is brave to amuse with new and unusual sound effects.

Tictes to buy here.