About

The concert brings together winners of international competitions, young talented musicians: Javier Comesaña Barrera, winner of the Jascha Heifetz Competition in Vilnius and the Joseph Joachim Competition in Hanover among other competitions and recipient of “Prinz von Hessen-Preis” awarded by the Kronberg Academy, and Samuel Lee, winner of the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors among other achievements. 

Born in Seville and already familiar to Vilnius audience, Comesaña Barrera has performed as a soloist with orchestras from various countries (including those of Barcelona, Seville, Hanover, Poznań, Milan, Mantua, Bern, Stuttgart, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, and others), under the baton of Pablo González, Ivan Monighetti, Modestas Barkauskas, Modestas Pitrėnas, as well as Plácido Domingo, András Schiff, Péter Eötvös, and others. The violinist also appears as a chamber musician in various ensembles. Comesaña Barrera plays a 1765 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin on loan from the Fritz-Behrens-Stiftung foundation.

Having won the prestigious Malko Competition among others, the young maestro Lee has collaborated with dozens of the world’s most renowned orchestras, served as associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (USA) during the 2024–2025 season. The breadth of his conducting repertoire is reflected in the fact that he is a passionate advocate of contemporary music and has participated in the Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo led by Riccardo Muti, where Lee conducted Verdi’s opera Rigoletto. Interestingly, he began his musical journey and studies as an accomplished violist, performing as a soloist with orchestras in Germany, South Korea, and elsewhere, and playing in Novus string quartet. Thus, in this concert, he will appear not only as a conductor but also as a soloist, performing and conducting Max Bruch’s Romanze for viola and orchestra, a work of extraordinary beauty often referred to as a gem of the viola repertoire.