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WORLD MUSIC

The Centre of Folklore and Ethnography of Etnic Minorities in Lithuania annually initiates the creation, presentation and distribution of a new music creation. Our annual goal is to order new world music musical compositions from most famous composers, to encourage them to combine the folk melody, rhythm and poetics of different nations living in Lithuania and new forms of contemporary music. Since 2009, the main goal of this project, which has attracted professional music and authentic folklore artists, is to capture the brightest examples of musical folklore, interest both folk creatives and professional art lovers, educate children and young people in culture, and musical heritage. The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and prominent Lithuanian conductors have become our permanent partners-performers. The following works have already been created and successfully presented to Lithuanian and foreign audiences:

LINAS RIMŠA “OLD FAITH”, 2009 

The work commissioned for the festival Pokrovskye Kolokola was performed in the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society with great success and became part of the program “Vilnius - European Capital of Culture 2009” and later at the Lithuanian National Drama Theater and the Moscow International House of Music. 2015 an orchestral version of the work was created, enriching the possibilities of expressing his creative thought through musical expression and including new added parts, which was successfully presented at the celebration of the Day of Restoration of Lithuanian Independence in St. Petersburg in 2017 and at the Tbilisi State Conservatory in 2019.

The composition of the Lithuanian composer on spiritual topics was recognized and highly appreciated by music critics. The CD of the music piece was released twice in Lithuania, and later the right to release this album was given to the famous British company ARC Music.

In the music of Linas Rimša, folklore unites with fragments of other musical cultures, genres and styles. The Russian folklore ensemble performs authentic songs and songs of Lithuanian Old Believers. A rare folklore genre - religious singing poetry - has been selected for the world music project.

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ARTISTS:

LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, art director Sergey KRYLOV

Folklore ensemble ARINUSHKA, art directors Irena and Nikolai ZACHAROV

Soloists: Viktoras ŽABROVAS, Arina ZACHAROVA

Julia MOROZOVA (organ, cello)

Percussion group HAND VOICES

Rūta RAGINYTĖ (lamzdelis)

Tomas BIELIAUSKAS (oboe)

Nikolai ZACHAROV (bayan)

Tomas VARNAGIRIS (guitar)

DYNGYLDAI (vocals, Republic Tyva)

Conductor Robertas SHERVENIKAS

​ANDREI DOINIKOV “ETHNOSPHERE - A NEW BREATH OF TRADITION”, 2012

The symphonic suite for soloists, folklore ensembles and orchestra "Ethnosphere - A New Breath of Tradition" is a creative experiment of the organizers of the festival Pokrovskije kolokola and participants of the Ethnosphere program. The title of the project reflects the core idea of the movement itself, which brought together performers who have received high recognition in various countries around the world. They nurture folk traditions by translating them into new forms of contemporary music and attracting young, creative musicians. One of them is Andrei Doinikov, a great composer, percussionist, pianist, conductor.

ARTISTS:

LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, art director Sergey KRYLOV
Folklore ensemble ARINUSHKA, art directors Irena and Nikolai ZACHAROV

Soloists:

Andrei KOTOV (vocals, folk instruments, Russia)

Sergey STAROSTIN (vocals, folk instruments, Russia)

Sergey FILATOV (piano, Russia)

Vitaly KIS (guitar, Russia)

Sergey KLEVENSKY (folk instruments, Russia)

Dmitry VLASENKO (folk instruments, Russia)

Conductor Andrei DOINIKOV (Germany-Russia)

GEDIMINAS RIMKUS RIMKEVIČIUS “FOLK RHAPSODY”, 2013 

The Slavic song cycle "Folk Rhapsody" is also a composition of the popular world music trend of our time. The composition of the Lithuanian composer Gediminas Rimkus Rimkevičius “Folk Rhapsody” reveals the composer's individual approach to folklore, the synthesis of folk and academic music. The voices of folk artists, blending harmoniously with the orchestral and ethnic instruments, create a unique mystery of ancient and contemporary music.

ARTISTS:

LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, artistic director Sergey KRYLOV

Folklore ensembles ARINUSKA, art directors Irena and Nikolai ZACHAROV

TRAIKOTKA, artistic director Irena VIŠNEVSKA

SVIATO, Artistic Director Arina ZACHAROVA

Soloists: Yevgeny YEFREMOV (vocals, Ukraine)

Sergey KLEVENSKIJ (folk instruments, Russia)

Julia MOROZOVA (piano, Lithuania)

Nikolay ZACHAROV (bayan, vocals, Lithuania)

Tomas BOTYRIUS (saxophone, Lithuania)

Igor KRAMAREVAS (trumpet, Lithuania)

Artūras CHALIKOVAS (guitar, Lithuania)

Percussion group HAND VOICES (Lithuania)

Valentinas KRULIKOVSKIS (jaw harp, Lithuania)

Vyacheslav LUKJANENKO (jaw harp, Lithuania)

Conductor Robertas SHERVENIKAS

JONAS JURKŪNAS “FROM THIS CITY”, 2014 

The piece features folk songs from different nations - Russian, Jewish, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Lithuanian and other - revealed by modern means of contemporary music expression. Jonas Jurkūnas, a talented composer who has won recognition in Lithuania and abroad, asks himself and his listeners the question: "What would representatives of different nations from Vilnius, spread all over the world, tell the people of distant lands about themselves and Vilnius?". The answer lies in the piece, in which the orchestra symbolizes the city of Vilnius, the performers - ethnic groups who have lived and still live in Vilnius since ancient times, and their profound national idiosyncrasies.  The piece consists of vocal-instrumental episodes and orchestral inserts, and the finale sounds an orchestral tutti, symbolizing the apotheosis of the Lithuanian capital.  An avid experimenter, the piece blends music and visual arts in a harmonious way, revealing the potential for art synthesis and its unique impact on listeners.

ARTISTS:

LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, artistic director Sergey KRYLOV

Folklore ensembles ARINUSKA, art directors Irena and Nikolai ZACHAROV

SVIATO, Artistic Director Arina ZACHAROVA

Folklore Ensemble INTAKAS

Soloists: Rafail KARPIS (tenor)

Saulius PETREIKIS (multi-instrumentalist)

Hamidreza RAHBARALAM, Tomas KULIKAUSAS (percussion)

Gospel Choir HARK!

Visual artist Rimas SAKALAUSKAS

Set designer Anželika ŠULCAITĖ

Conductor Modestas BARKAUSKAS

LINAS RIMŠA “WOMEN'S SONGS”, 2015

The concept of the piece is exceptional - the composer presents the singing folklore of women of different nations in the context of contemporary music, thus highlighting the importance of the female element in the traditional culture of different nations and revealing the possibilities of synthesis of ethnic music and modern music composing and performance.

In folklore, a woman's life beginning is associated with fortuity and the magic of the word. A woman's word has a bigger influence than a man's word, often gaining a curse resembling power. The feminine creative beginning in folk songs involves lyricism, the ability to express symbols, emotionality, rituality, generalization and the pursuit of tradition. All these aspects have been explored, reviewed, revealed and articulated by the composer with the help of the music language, so the composition should be seen not only as a high-level piece of music, but also as a result of scientific research and discovery.