The Special Night at St. Catherine Church in Vilnius

A Christmas Season of 2012 was marked with the release of Bel Canto Choir Vilnius DVD/CD album, entitled – The Sky Opens for One Night Only… with Joana Gedmintaitė and Artūras Anusauskas, recorded in Surround Sound for the first time in the history of Lithuania’s choral music. The DVD/CD album features Bel Canto Choir Vilnius and its prominent Friends – Lithuanian opera star Joana Gedmintaitė, soloist Lina Dambrauskaitė and jazz pianist Artūras Anusauskas – filmed and recorded live in the Concert at St. Catherine Church in Vilnius during the Culture Night festival on June 18, 2012.

The album of Bel Canto Choir Vilnius is also distinguished for exceptional music by contemporary Lithuanian composers. It features such songs, filmed and recorded for the first time, as Neišeik, Saulala (Don’t Leave Me, Sun) by Vytautas Miškinis; Žuvų mįslės (Fishes’ Songs) by Giedrius Svilainis and Gražuolis garvežys (Beautiful Steam Locomotive) by Vidmantas Bartulis (arrangement by Vaclovas Augustinas).

The album is also enriched with beautiful pieces by American contemporary composers – a heart touching Sure on this Shining Night by Morten Lauridsen and worldwide special Sleep by Eric Whitacre, as well as with two special songs for music gourmands – Ave Maria from the motion picture Modigliani (the song was specially arranged for the Bel Canto Choir Vilnius by composer Vladimiras Konstantinovas) and La Vergine Degli Angeli from the opera La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi.

The album of Bel Canto Choir Vilnius also features popular classics, such as The Blessing by Brendan Graham; Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber; You Raise Me Up by Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham, as well as The Prayer by David Foster.

The special guests of the Concert: opera soloist Joana Gedmintaitė, soloist Lina Dambrauskaitė, jazz pianist Artūras Anusauskas, violoncellist Augustas Gocentas. A host of the Concert: Liviija Gradauskienė.

Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Bel Canto Choir Vilnius: Artūras Dambrauskas; Choirmasters: Raminta Gocentienė, Alfredas Celiešius and Simona Vitkauskienė.

Credits

Artistic Director of the Concert: Artūras Dambrauskas; Executive Producer: Audrius Valatkevičius; Video Producer: Vytautas Drazdauskas; Director of Photography: Šarūnas Burža; Lightening Design: Marius Selevičius; Recording Director: Vilius Keras.