About

The International M. K. Čiurlionis Music Festival invites you to an exceptional event: the legendary French pianist Roger Muraro will perform a programme that few virtuosos dare to tackle – all three books of Franz Liszt’s piano cycle Années de pèlerinage. This is one of the most technically and emotionally demanding piano cycles, requiring exceptional talent and endurance from the performer.

Liszt’s musical diary not only recounts the impressions of his travels to Switzerland and Italy, but also reveals the transformation of his personality, from a young lover enchanted by nature and works of art during his first year of travel in Switzerland, a philosopher in search of spiritual invigoration in literature during his second year of travel in Italy, to a humble thinker who discovered peace and religion during his third year of travel. The three-book cycle consists of 26 pieces inspired by the texts of Petrarch, Schiller, Byron, Dante and other writers, the artworks of Raphael and Michelangelo, or simply by the mesmerising beauty of nature.

Muraro is a musician who has already charmed Lithuanian audiences on several occasions and can surely be described as one of the world’s finest performers and virtuosos. A prize-winner of the prestigious international Tchaikovsky and Liszt piano competitions, Muraro has a phenomenal performance technique, which is always at the service of poeticism and the spiritual revelation of musical images. He is awaited in the world’s major concert halls and regularly works with the most distinguished conductors and orchestras.