SZYMON NEHRING (piano, Poland)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano sonata, Op. 2 No. 1
Piano sonata, Op. 31 No. 3
MIKALOJUS KONSTANTINAS ČIURLIONIS
Nocturne in C sharp minor, VL 183
Prelude in F sharp major, VL 184
Prelude in B flat major, VL 186
Ruduo (Autumn), VL 264
Impromptu in F sharp minor, VL 181
Prelude in A major, VL 335
Prelude in F sharp minor, VL 185
Nocturne in A major, VL 178
FRYDERYK CHOPIN
Impromptu in F sharp major, Op. 36
Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44
Since 2020, the Tytuvėnai Festival, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and the M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius have been organising concerts to mark the birthday of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911). This creates a tradition of commemorating the unique Lithuanian artist with performances of famous Lithuanian and foreign pianists. By including works by Čiurlionis in their repertoire, foreign performers celebrate our country’s culture and, of course, the great composer. This is even more important now that UNESCO has added the 150th anniversary of Čiurlionis’ birth to its list of anniversaries to be celebrated. Čiurlionis’ jubilee will be widely commemorated in Lithuania and worldwide in 2025.
This year, on 18 September, Szymon Nehring, a world-renowned pianist already familiar to Lithuanian audience, will celebrate Čiurlionis’ 149th birthday by performing the music of Lithuanian genius at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall. Winner of many international competitions, the Polish pianist has performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Santander, Bamberg, Marseille, Israel and Calgary symphony orchestras, Polish Sinfonia Iuventus, and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. His concert tours have taken him to Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, France, China, Ukraine, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, USA and other countries. In 2015, Nehring was a finalist at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, winning the audience prize and several special prizes. In 2016, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute released a CD of his performance at the competition. In 2017, Nehring became the only Pole so far to win one of the world’s biggest international competitions, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. This victory has opened the door to the world’s most important concert halls: Carnegie Hall in New York, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Vienna’s Musikverein and Munich’s Herkulessaal.
Tonight, Nehring will perform a set of preludes by M. K. Čiurlionis; the programme will be “framed” by the early sonatas by Beethoven and the major piano opuses by Chopin.
