To mark the 65th anniversary of Boys’ and Youth Choir “Ąžuoliukas” and the 45th anniversary of “Ąžuoliukas” Music School
Performers
Boys’ and Youth Choir ĄŽUOLIUKAS
(artistic director and principal conductor Vytautas Miškinis)
Choirmasters: NERINGA SIDAUGAITĖ, ROMAS SKAPAS, GITANA TRIMIRKAITĖ, GABRIELIUS GAIDAMAVIČIUS
MUSICA HUMANA Ensemble
(artistic director and conductor Robertas Beinaris)
Soloists: GUNTA GELGOTĖ (soprano), IEVA GAIDAMAVIČIŪTĖ-BARKAUSKĖ (soprano), VAIDAS BARTUŠAS (countertenor), MINDAUGAS JANKAUSKAS (tenor), GENADIJUS BERGORULKO (bass)
Conductor VYTAUTAS MIŠKINIS
Programme
GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL – Oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth, HWV 71
About
When Herman Perelstein, a distinguished choirmaster and teacher, founded the Boys’ Choir of the Vilnius Automatic Telephone Exchange Club in the autumn of 1959 (that is how the today’s choir Ąžuoliukas was called the first five years of its existence), he was carrying on a tradition of boys’ singing that had existed for some 800 years in Europe. In Lithuania, Ąžuoliukas became a unique phenomenon – a collective that was a model for other boys’ choirs in Lithuania. Eventually it became famous far beyond Lithuania. After going on its first foreign tour in 1969, Ąžuoliukas went on to perform in many European countries, Japan, the USA and Canada. The choir sings music from a wide range of eras and genres, from renaissance motets and baroque oratorios to contemporary opuses and jazz. Ąžuoliukas has performed around eighty large-scale works.
The 2024–2025 season is an anniversary season for Ąžuoliukas: history, music and memories accumulated in 65 years will remain in the memory of the cultural community for a long time. This Sunday, the choir, together with the chamber ensemble Musica humana and soloists, will perform Handel’s oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth. The motto of the work is found in the text of the first chorus: “Time is supreme, time is a mighty pow’r, whom wisest mortals will adore.”
The oratorio consists of three acts; similarly to the operas, the characters in the oratorio are symbolic: Gunta Gelgotė – Beauty, Ieva Gaidamavičiūtė-Barkauskė – Deceit, Vaidas Bartušas – Counsel, Mindaugas Jankauskas – Pleasure, Genadijus Bergorulko – Time. The choir comments on the truths of life that the soloists are celebrating.
The duration of the work is more than two hours, so the concert will have an intermission. The opus consists of 56 musical movements – overture, arias, recitatives, choruses (some movements will be omitted due to the large scale of the work). Possibly, it is Handel’s last work, celebrating the two most important and inevitable paradigms of the flow of life – time and truth.
Concert organised in cooperation with Vilnius “Ąžuoliukas” Music School, PI Boys’ and Youth Choir “Ąžuoliukas”
