A special concert of world’s modern choral music at Klaipėda Drama Theatre

Following it’s highly successful sell-out Deep Field and CineMass concerts at the Lithuanian National Philharmonics in Vilnius, Bel Canto Choir Vilnius presented a cozy and elegant charity concert dedicated to the Lithuanian Independence Day at the newly reconstructed Klaipėda Drama Theatre on March 11, 2016.

For the first time in Klaipėda City, Bel Canto Choir Vilnius premiered a very special Sunrise Mass by Ola Gjeilo, one of the most popular contemporary Norwegian composers. The rest of the program featured the Choir’s favorites of modern, classical and cinematic music.

Bel Canto Choir Vilnius organized the concert in cooperation with the public organization Klaipėdos Šventės. The project was patronized by Klaipėda City Municipality and Klaipėda City mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas. The charity concert was aimed at raising funds to give deprived youth and children an opportunity to attend cultural events held at the Drama Theatre and Klaipėda Concert Hall.

For the first time in Klaipėda! Bel Canto Choir Vilnius’ very special love – Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass

The cornerstone of Bel Canto Choir Vilnius’ concert was the Sunrise Mass – a four-part piece for choir and strings written by Ola Gjeilo, one of the world’s most popular Norwegian contemporary composers. This exceptionally light, moving and uplifting work is a different, original, and modern take of the young composer – currently residing and working in New York – on the centuries-old genre of Mass in church music.

Gjeilo says he had aimed for a different approach to the traditional Latin text of the Mass. The transparent and spacey music of the work evolves into earthy and grounded sounds, while nebulous and pristine feelings are gradually replaced with more emotional, dramatic ones. Even the traditional parts of the Mass are given new and vivid names, such as The Spheres (Kyrie), Sunrise (Gloria), The City (Credo), Identity & The Ground (Sanctus / Benedictus and Agnus Dei).

The concert by Bel Canto Choir Vilnius also featured compositions from motion picture Modigliani that were exclusively arranged for Bel Canto Choir Vilnius by Vladimiras Konstantinovas, the composer from Klaipėda; pieces from the movie Schindler’s List as well as works by distinguished contemporary choral composers Eric Whitacre and Eriks Ešenvalds.

Concert by Bel Canto Choir Vilnius supported Klaipėda’s social initiative

The charity concert by Bel Canto Choir Vilnius was aimed at supporting the social initiative of Klaipėda City residents. All funds raised at the concert was converted into “waiting tickets” to give children and youth of Klaipėda City an opportunity to attend cultural events at the Klaipėda Drama Theatre and Klaipėda Concert Hall.

Artūras Dambrauskas is the Bel Canto Choir Vilnius’ artistic director, and Raminta Gocentienė, Milda Zapolskaitė and Alfredas Celiešius are its choirmasters. Producer of the Concert – Audrius Valatkevičius.