On November 15-29, the piano will reign supreme at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society (LNPhS), which will host the 9th Vilnius Piano Festival. With the care of its artistic director, pianist Mūza Rubackytė, the festival is sure to once again become a magnet for piano music lovers. Nine concerts promise encounters with top-level pianists from various countries. The festival will commemorate important anniversaries, feature premieres of new works, and invite to the fourth edition of French piano music masterclasses held at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

“I would like to congratulate everyone at the 9th Vilnius Piano Festival, dedicated to M. K. Čiurlionis. This exceptional personality, who brilliantly combined the arts and demonstrated through his work how painting and music are connected, inspired us to call the festival Diptych for Čiurlionis. This time, the festival will feature a variety of philosophical diptychs, revealing, according to the encyclopaedia, two different but complementary aspects. A pianist and conductor, a conductor and composer, a teacher and pianist, and finally, already a tradition at the festival, a tandem of new names in the world of piano... We will symbolically congratulate Čiurlionis and Ravel, who are celebrating their 150th birthdays – so different and yet so kindred – and admire the artistic connection between the Parisians Satie and Chopin” says Rubackytė, the festival’s artistic director.

According to Rūta Prusevičienė, general director of the festival organizer, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, the 9th Vilnius Piano Festival dedicated to Čiurlionis will enrich the cultural life of the capital with high-level concerts featuring renowned Lithuanian and foreign performers. “In the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, we will hear Mūza Rubackytė, Guoda Gedvilaitė, Denis Pascal, Philippe Cassard, François-Frédéric Guy, French piano legend Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, winners of prestigious competitions James Zijian Wei, Evren Ozel and Anna Geniušienė, as well as young Lithuanian talents. The festival will culminate in the long-awaited premiere of Maestro Stefano Lano’s Second concerto for piano, dedicated to Mūza Rubackytė, while the opening concert will feature the premiere of Arvydas Malcys’ symphonic opus Dedication to Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. We are grateful to the festival’s patron, Allianz Lietuva, and its sponsors: Vilnius City Municipality, Vilnius Club, Saulius Karosas Charity and Support Foundation, Urbo Bank, and the French Institute in Lithuania for making such a rich festival program and all its events possible,” says Prusevičienė.

On November 15, at the opening concert of the festival, Dedication to HIM, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas, will premiere Arvydas Malcys’ Dedication to Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. This is one of the highlights of the festival program and the LNSO’s activities commemorating the 150th anniversary of Čiurlionis’ birth. Marking the 150th anniversary of birth of Čiurlionis and also of Maurice Ravel, the concert will feature Guoda Gedvilaitė and the LNSO performing Ravel’s Concerto for the left hand and orchestra. The second half of the concert will be dedicated to the poet of piano and virtuoso Ferenc Liszt. The audience will be treated to Preludes for orchestra and Hungarian Fantasy for piano and orchestra. The latter will feature the founder of the festival, Rubackytė, at the piano, whom the US magazine Fanfare has lauded as “one of the best living Liszt performers.” For the pianist, this evening, and indeed the entire festival, will be special because of the presentation of the latest (2025) release. The audience will be introduced to and will be able to purchase a CD of works by Krzysztof Penderecki, another composer who is particularly important to the pianist. Recorded by Rubackytė and the LNSO under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson (released by Evidence), the CD features the ten-movement piano concerto Resurrection and Ciaccona (the world premiere of a transcription for solo piano). Thus, the title of the festival’s opening concert, Dedication to HIM, will have more than one meaning.

On November 16, the festival will continue with what has become a tradition – a concert for the whole family, featuring young pianists Aurelija Vanagaitė, Emilija Joana Šoriūtė, Klėja Kašubaitė, Meda Siliūtė and Joris Mikužis, patronised by Mstislav Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation “Help for Lithuanian Children” and advised by Prof. Rubackytė. “We believe it is very important to encourage and motivate young musicians at all stages of their development,” says Rubackytė. 

The concert featuring young talents will be a good introduction to the rest of the festival’s program of recitals. Five of the nine festival concerts will be recitals, continuing two of the festival’s traditions: Winner’s Recital or The Winners’ Tandem and Parisian Soirees in Vilnius. 

On November 18, James Zijian Wei, a Chinese pianist of younger generation, will appear in the Winner’s Recital. He is the first prize winner of the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition, third prize winner of the 76th Geneva International Music Competition, and recipient of the Rose-Marie Huguenin Special Prize. The festival’s double recital tradition will continue this year on November 25 with the concert The Winners’ Tandem, featuring two pianists who won silver medals at prestigious competitions in the United States: Evren Ozel, winner of the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition and the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and Anna Geniušienė, winner of the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. All of these pianists will perform works by M. K. Čiurlionis alongside music by various composers, thus contributing to the festival’s dedication to Čiurlionis.

Parisian Soirees in Vilnius will offer French music programmes performed by French piano masters. On November 20, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall will be a setting to a programme dedicated to Erik Satie, performed by Denis Pascal, one of the most original French pianists. On November 23, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Chamber Hall will host an intimate Parisian afternoon with maestro Philippe Cassard inviting the audience to enjoy the music of Claude Debussy in a chamber ambiance. He will lead a master class on French music at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre on November 21 at 10.00. The Parisian Soirees in Vilnius will close on November 27 with a recital by French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, already familiar to our audience. The pianist will present a programme dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel. 

On November 22, classical music connoisseurs will be treated to a programme Classics Diptych, juxtaposing the music of Mozart and Beethoven performed by François-Frédéric Guy, one of today’s foremost French pianists, and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. 

The festival will culminate on November 29 with the closing concert Dedication to HER. May the Première Happen! After several years, the LNSO, Rubackytė, and conductor and composer Stefan Lano will share the stage again. In addition to other works, the maestro will present the world premiere of his latest opus to the festival audience! This is Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2 (à Mūza Rubackytė avec admiration et affection), dedicated to Rubackytė. The audience will be treated not only to a special premiere, but also to the extraordinary story behind the creation of this work. “I am deeply moved by this dedication to me and feel obliged to reveal to you, dear audience, the depth and meaning of this extraordinarily complex work,” says Rubackytė.

The full program of the 9th Vilnius Piano Festival can be found on the websites www.nationalphilharmonic.lt and www.vff.lt. The festival is sponsored by Allianz Lietuva, with support from Vilnius City Municipality, Vilnius Club, Saulius Karosas Charity and Support Foundation, Urbo Bank, and the French Institute. We look forward to seeing you at the concerts! 

LNPhS inf.