In 2025, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the prominent Lithuanian artist and composer, as well as cultural ambassador of Lithuania in the world, the Čiurlionis Quartet will be particularly active in representing his music abroad. This ensemble, which resides under the roof of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society (LNPhS), begins its tour celebrating Čiurlionis’ anniversary year abroad on 11 February. The first performance will take place in Finland, at Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo Hall. Further concerts on this year’s itinerary are scheduled for Georgia, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Moldova, Germany, France and Bulgaria. In February alone, the Quartet will perform 11 concerts in 7 countries during the 18 days of the tour.

“The Čiurlionis Quartet will give concerts in numerous countries from Scandinavia to South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Embassies and all our partners are anticipating the Quartet’s visits. I believe that this year we will see a great success for our musical culture. There is really a huge promulgation going on. The ambassadors are contributing a lot, offering their visions. Edvilas Raudonikis, the Ambassador to Finland, has already greatly contributed while in the Czech Republic, when he was instrumental in organising the concert of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas Choir, Modestas Pitrėnas and Violeta Urmana at the prestigious Prague Spring Festival, where we performed Kutavičius’ Epitaphium temporum pereunti (Epitaph for the Passing Time). Now, in Finland, the Ambassador has conceived a musical visual Čiurlioniana, which will be performed in Helsinki’s largest concert hall. It will feature the Čiurlionis Quartet and Petras Geniušas. Moreover, they will be joined by a Finnish rock band. Very intriguing!”, says Rūta Prusevičienė, Director General of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, about the promotion of Čiurlionis and Lithuania abroad and about the concert in Finland on 11 February.

The Čiurlionis Quartet will collaborate with pianist Petras Geniušas in the concert in Finland and some of the other concerts abroad. The harpist Florence Sitruk will join the Quartet for the concerts in Germany and France, but for most of the tour concerts the Quartet will perform the chamber instrumental music programmes alone. However, the Quartet’s line-up will change slightly – Elena Daunytė, who is temporarily unable to perform, will be replaced by Liudvikas Silickas, a member of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, who will be joining Jonas Tankevičius (1st violin), Darius Dikšaitis (2nd violin), and Gediminas Dačinskas (viola) on the tours in February and early March. All programmes will be linked by the music of M. K. Čiurlionis alongside other composers.

It is worth mentioning that the Čiurlionis Quartet has been fostering the chamber genre since 1968. Although musicians have changed over the decades, the Quartet has always been known as an inventive and technically advanced ensemble, and was honoured with Lithuania’s highest artistic award – the National Prize for Culture and Art.

The Quartet has performed at venues such as the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and many others, and has given concerts at major festivals, including the Prague Spring Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Europamusikale, the Amadeo in Zagreb, the Silk Road events in China, the St. Magnus International Festival in Scotland and elsewhere. As part of its important mission to promote the name of Čiurlionis, the Quartet performed 100 concerts in various Lithuanian and foreign venues in 2011 alone, the year dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Čiurlionis’ death, and concluded the tour at the UNESCO Hall in Paris. In 2025, the Quartet will once again be spreading the music of Čiurlionis around the world with great intensity. According to Danas Skramtai, the organiser of the Čiurlionis tour, concert manager with the LNPhS, 2025 will be the year of an impressive tour. “The most intense touring will be in February and March. In these two months alone, 16 concerts will be performed, and 11 countries will be visited”, says Skramtai.

For all the news of the LNPhS 84th season, please visit www.nationalphilharmonic.lt  The LNPhS concert season is sponsored by NORFA.

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