CLOSING CONCERT OF THE FESTIVAL

Sunday, April 7, 7 p.m.

Šiauliai Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gegužių Street 57)

CLOSING CONCERT OF THE FESTIVAL

RITA PETRAUSKAITĖ (soprano)

BEATA IGNATAVIČIŪTĖ (soprano)

AURIMAS RAULINAVIČIUS (tenor)

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF KLAIPĖDA STATE MUSICAL THEATER

(Artistic Director and Chief Conductor TOMAS AMBROZAITIS)

CHOIR OF KLAIPĖDA STATE MUSICAL THEATER

(Chief Choirmaster and Conductor VLADIMIRAS KONSTANTINOVAS)

ŠIAULIAI POLIFONIJA STATE CHAMBER CHOIR

(Artistic Director and Chief Conductor LINAS BALANDIS)

Conductor MIHÁLY ZEKE (Germany)

In recent years, the main performers at the Festival’s closing concert have been the Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Klaipėda State Music Theatre together with the Festival’s hosts, Polifonija choir. This year’s Festival will culminate in a concert featuring a trio of soloists from the Klaipėda State Music Theatre and the Greek-Hungarian conductor Mihály Menelaos Zeke, who will lead a stage full of musicians. A conductor of exceptional talent, he studied organ, piano and conducting in Athens and Stuttgart. During his career Mihály Menelaos Zeke has conducted at the Opéra de Dijon (France), the English National Opera and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. He is currently the artistic director of the Cythera chamber choir, conducts the Academic Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Choir of the University of Stuttgart, works as a freelance conductor of radio choirs in Germany, Hungary and Greece, and has recently begun teaching choral conducting at the University of Mainz (Germany). This concert is a unique opportunity to see a music professional of this calibre on the podium, controlling the flow of music from the instrumentalists to the audience.

The programme includes Psalms by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy:

Psalm 2 “Warum toben die Heiden“ Op. 78/1

Psalm 95 “Kommt, lasst uns anbeten“ Op. 46

Psalm 42 “Wie der Hirsch schreit“ Op. 42

Free admission