Concert Programme
W. A. Mozart. Symphony No. 40, g-moll, K. 550
A. Dvořák. Cello Concerto, b-moll, Op. 104
One of the world's most prominent cello virtuosos and a member of today's classical music elite, David Geringas, is celebrating his 80th birthday. The artist’s incredibly vast repertoire, spanning from the early Baroque to contemporary music, highlights his extraordinary musical curiosity, exceptionally high technical mastery, and inner flexibility. Geringas's intellectual precision, stylistic versatility, and intuitive sense of melody and tone have earned him special respect and acclaim worldwide.
Born in Vilnius, the artist studied at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art under Mikhail Shenderov. In 1968, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied under the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Winning the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970, the then 24-year-old cellist—and favorite student of Rostropovich—opened the doors to the world's most prestigious concert halls. Throughout his career, Geringas has performed as a soloist with the world's most renowned symphony orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Chicago, and London Philharmonics, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and many others. In 1975, the cellist emigrated to Germany; he currently resides in Hamburg and is a professor at the Lübeck Academy of Music. In 2002, Geringas was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts, and in 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
In this anniversary concert, Geringas will perform Antonín Dvořák's (1841–1904) Cello Concerto in B minor—one of the world's most famous concertos in the genre, often referred to as the "grand" or "royal" concerto. The piece's melodic thematic material and orchestration transport the listener into the refreshing landscapes of the composer's beloved Bohemia.
In the first half of the concert, Geringas will take the conductor's podium, leading the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in a performance of one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756–1791) most celebrated works—Symphony No. 40 in G minor. The summer of 1788 was a period of exceptional productivity for Mozart: in just three months, the composer wrote his final three symphonies. Symphony No. 40 in G minor is one of only two symphonies the composer wrote in minor keys, reflecting Mozart's interest in the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) German spiritual and literary movement of the 1750s–1770s, which brought dramatic emotions to the forefront as a counterpoint to the prevailing Enlightenment rationalism of the time.