The Lithuanian Symphony Wind Orchestra and pianist Dmitrijus Golovanovs present the program “Jazz City”

On April 17, at the Klaipėda Concert Hall, during the Klaipėda Music Spring festival, the Lithuanian Symphony Wind Orchestra and jazz pianist Dmitrijus Golovanov will present an intriguing musical program that will intertwine jazz and classical intonations. For several years now, the orchestra has been enthusiastically performing the symphonic wind genre repertoire, which is only being discovered little by little, but extremely rich and diverse. One of the works in the program is American composer Dana Wilson’s Concerto for jazz piano and brass band. How does this work differ from the usual Piano Concerto, in which a symphony orchestra competes with a virtuoso soloist?

According to the guest of the program, pianist Dmitry Golovanov, this concert stands out primarily for its form concept: “The soloist’s improvisation here is somewhat limited by the notation – there is a form and guidelines that I have to follow. What I play and how I play it depends not only on me, but also on the hall, the piano, the acoustics, the energy of the orchestra, my own energy to which I will bring the orchestra, the mood that will dominate at that particular moment, the support of the audience and many others circumstances. Improvisation is like a conversation, in which the interlocutor suggests a topic and the other person adds to it. I think it’s extremely interesting – in the jazz tradition it’s usual to hear smaller ensembles, but here a large orchestra is involved.”

Dana Wilson’s work is a kind of homage to Klaipėda, which is deservedly called the city of Jazz because of the jazz festival and community that takes place here. True, the concert will also feature contemporary works by Lithuanian authors, which will somehow complement the intonations of jazz music. One of them is the opus “4 Forces” by composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, laureate of the national culture and art prize. The New York-based composer was inspired by the forces that govern the universe – gravity, electromagnetic power, and weak and strong nuclear power: “The work reveals how larger forces control and influence independent voices within a larger mass, reveals different ways of interaction with contrasting textures,” said Ž. Martinaitytė.