Soundscapes of European Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales
Music of Čiurlionis and his European contemporaries
Rokas Zubovas, piano
Sonata Deveikytė-Zubovienė, piano and recitation
In a programme of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis: Symphonic poem Miške (In the Forest), Edvard Grieg: From Peer Gynt suite No. 1, Op. 46; From Peer Gynt suite No. 2, Op. 55, Maurice Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) and Čiurlionis: Symphonic poem Jūra (The Sea)
As Lithuania celebrates 150 years anniversary of her musical and visual genius Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the icon of modern Lithuanian artistic identity, the Duo Zubovas will perform the most iconic pieces of Čiurlionis – symphonic poem Miške (In the Forest) and Jūra (the Sea), accompanied by the music of his two contemporaries, Norwegian Edvard Grieg and French Maurice Ravel. The programme will immerse the listener into the ever-present magic world of European soundscapes marked by myths and legends of the soil, forests, waters, as conceived by the three European composers of the late 19th to early 20th century.
Pianists Sonata Deveikytė-Zubovienė and Rokas Zubovas started performing together in 1997. Both pianists, winners of International competitions, received music education in Lithuania (Lithuanian Academy of Music), Switzerland (Heinrich Neuhaus Institute, Zürich) and the USA (De Paul University, Chicago), where they studied under the guidance of pianists namely, Povilas Stravinskas, Jurgis Karnavičius, Esther Yellin, Andrius Kuprevičius, Edvard Auer and Dmitry Paperno.
Duo Zubovas has performed at the United Nations ‘Palace of Nations’ in Geneve and Royal Palace in Warsaw, appeared in International festivals in Lithuania, Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Ukraine, toured in South America (Argentina and Uruguay), North America (the USA and Canada), and throughout Europe. Besides performing the canon of repertoire for two pianos, Duo Zubovas’ special interest are works originally written for piano four hands by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Reger, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Rachmaninov, Corigliano, and others, as well as transcriptions for piano four hands of symphonic opuses including Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concertos’, Haydn’s ‘Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuz’, Ravel’s ‘Spanish Rhapsody’, Debussy’s ‘Spring’, ‘The Sea’, Čiurlionis’ String quartet and Symphonic Poem ‘In the Forest’, ‘The Sea’, Gershwin’s ‘Cuban Overture’ and ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and others.
The Duo performs with various symphony and chamber orchestras in Lithuania and abroad and has a number of works by Lithuanian composers dedicated to them.
Rokas Zubovas is the great grandson of the great Lithuanian composer, painter, poet and philosopher Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. Čiurlionis, was the father of modern Lithuanian music and art. He composed over 300 musical compositions, including two major symphonic poems, De Profundis – a cantata for choir and orchestra, a string quartet, works for choir a cappella, compositions for organ, two sonatas, variation cycles, and numerous small scale compositions for piano. In addition, Čiurlionis also created some 400 paintings and sketches, and wrote several literary compositions, both in prose and verse as well as several essays on music and art.
In association with The Embassy of Lithuania, New Delhi
