World cello stars and British composers will be at the opening of the Klaipėda International Cello Festival

On Monday, the third Klaipėda International Cello Festival opened in the crowded Klaipėda Concert Hall (KKS), which will last 6 days, from early morning to late evening. The concert “Cello and British Composers” opened the festival. The program featured the works of British composers Edward Elgar, William Walton and Gerald Finzi. They were performed by the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra (LVSO) led by artistic director and chief conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius and world-renowned cellists David Gering (Lithuania-Germany), Raphael Wallfisch (United Kingdom) and Jérôme Pernoo (France).

The opening concert of the festival, like the entire first day of the festival, was marked by the theme – portraits. In this concert, LVSO and cello virtuosos revealed musical portraits of famous British composers. E. Elgar, W. Walton and G. Finzis are composers who each wrote an exceptional work for cello and symphony orchestra.

“The works of these three special composers belong to the repertoire of the world gold fund and are often performed in concert halls around the world, but we heard them in Klaipėda perhaps for the first time. I am extremely happy that we introduced Klaipėda residents and guests of our city to these musical masterpieces, as well as to the legendary cello virtuosos of the world’s stages”, – the artistic director of the festival, cellist, Mindaugas Bačkus, shared his impressions after the opening concert.

The concert was opened by the winner of the 2002 Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, Lithuanian and German cellist, conductor, soloist David Geringas. The world-class cellist performs solo, with the most famous orchestras and conductors. Every year he returns to Lithuania to perform and organizes a new program. At the concert, D. Gerings performed E. Elgar’s piece “Sospiri” op. 70.

W. Walton’s Concerto for cello was performed by soloist J. Last year. An open-minded and eclectic musician who plays both contemporary and baroque cello, he seeks artistic diversity and participates in less traditional projects.

“It is a great honor for me that maestro David Gering invited me to participate in this wonderful celebration of the cello, its history, this musical instrument with a wide repertoire, which we all experience – both those who play the cello and those who listen to it”, – shared his emotions after the concert, R, who came to Lithuania for a concert for the first time .Wallfisch.

The soloist performed the final piece of the concert – G. Finzi’s Cello Concerto op. 40. The cellist said that at the end of his life, in 1955-1966, knowing that he was terminally ill, G. Finzis created this large-scale and powerful concerto for the cello. The second part of the work, dedicated to his wife, written back in 1951, is deeply moving.

R. Wallfisch is one of the most recorded classical music artists in the world. The musician has released more than 70 CDs, and in a BBC survey, R. Wallfisch recorded Antonín Dvořák’s cello concerto as the best recording of the work in the last 25 years.

The 6-day long cello festival invites its lovers to more than 30 events, of which more than 20 are free. Concerts take place from early morning to late evening in 22 different public spaces in the city.

The full program of the festival can be found here: https://celloklaipeda.com/