Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre is inviting you to get acquainted with its new Season 2014 – 2015. The theatre’s 95th season shall present 4 premieres, one of which is an evening of three one-act ballets, and 4 unique concerts. All in all, from 18 September to 29 May LNOBT shall show 157 performances.
“After recovering from the financial crisis we’ve raised a goal to ourselves – to present five premieres every season. Our latest season was very intensive and ended with baroque premiere, G. F. Handel’s “Alexander’s Feast” in June, and we wished a nice summertime to our audiences with a concert of choreographic miniatures “Creative Impulse III”. The new season is going to be just as intense, however, the premieres won’t be presented so close to each other in the repertoire. We are also continuing the tradition of presenting exclusive concerts on the stage of the LNOBT,” – claimed LNOBT’s general manager Gintautas Kėvišas.
On 18 September LNOBT shall launch its new season with a truly extraordinary event – concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra that shall be performing in Lithuania for the first time in its career. The concert shall be conducted one of today's most famous conductors, maestro Zubin Mehta, with opera diva Violeta Urmana as the soloist of the evening. Programme of the concert includes W. A. Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor (KV550), R. Strauss' symphonic poem “A Hero's Life” as well as arias from G. Verdi's operas “Don Carlos”, “Il trovatore” and C. Saint-Saëns' “Samson et Dalila”.
The first premiere of the season is set to be presented to the public on 21 November – on this day LNOBT will unveil the new production of P. Tchaikovsky's “The Nutcracker”, choreographed by the theatre's artistic director of ballet Krzysztof Pastor. Other members of the creative team include conductor Valery Ovsianikov (Russia), designer Viacheslav Okunev (Russia).
LNOBT has already established a beautiful tradition of celebrating New Year's Eve with a magnificent Gala concert that brings together Lithuanian and foreign stars. The main celebrity of the concert on 31 December shall be the charismatic tenor from Argentina José Cura, accompanied on the stage by his colleagues Jovita Vaškevičiūtė (mezzo soprano) and Tadas Girininkas (bass).
On 13 January, Freedom Defenders Day, LNOBT shall invite you to listen to J. Brahms' “German Requiem“ with soloists Asta Krikščiūnaitė (soprano) and Laimonas Pautienius (baritone), LNOBT's chorus and symphony orchestra conducted by Rolf Beck (Germany). In the beginning of spring, 5 March, the theatre shall present another concert – this time of the “Filharmonica della Scala“ from Milan, together with an experienced master from Corea Myung-Whun Chung. On 14 March LNOBT shall welcome the premiere of an opera for children that shall be performed at the Chamber Hall – Sigitas Mickis' “Zuikis puikis“, written after a poem by Eduardas Mieželaitis. Music director and conductor of the premiere is Juozas Mantas Jauniškis. The production will complement not only the repertoire of children's operas that includes J. Tamulionis' “The Tiny Lingonberry“ and educational project “Burattino“, but also the list of national works, among which are G. Kuprevičius' ballet “Čiurlionis“ and O. Narbutaitė's opera “Cornet“. In 2015 there are also plans to produce another opera for children by R. Šerkšnytė.
10 April marks the premiere of triptych of one-act ballets “Thoughts in Motion“, which shall include “Bolero“ by K. Pastor (after M. Ravel's music), I. Galili's “Things I Told Nobody“ and first full choreographic production by Martynas Rimeikis, LNOBT's ballet soloist who participated in LNOBT's project “Creative Impulse“ with great success. The music director and conductor of the production is Modestas Barkauskas.
Final premiere of the 2014-2015 Season is L. Van Beethoven's “Fidelio“, presented on 15 May. The premiere, which is a co-production between the LNOBT and Bergen Opera Theatre (it was presented here in 2013) shall be directed by O. Koršunovas and conducted by M. Staškus. “Fidelio“ is going to be the second opera production by O. Koršunovas to be presented at the LNOBT, the first one being “L'elisir d'amore“.
During the new season LNOBT will also show all of the premieres of the 2013-2014 Season, including G. F. Handel's “Alexander's Feast“. In the autumn 2014 the main stage of the theatre shall also welcome back the mesmerizing G. Puccini's “Madama Butterfly“ directed by A. Minghella. After performances in Vilnius the production shall go on tour in Australia and there are not too many chances that it will return to Lithuania – therefore, all fans of this magical work of art should not miss their chance to see it. Another attraction is the fact that the part of Pinkerton is this time being prepared by tenor Merūnas Vitulskis. The new season also promises 10 performances of G. Rossini's “Il barbiere di Siviglia“, after which the production shall travel to San Francisco.
During the season LNOBT shall welcome all of the most talented Lithuanian theatre conductors: among theatre's music director Robertas Šervenikas and LNOBT's conductors Martynas Staškus and Alvydas Šulčys we shall also see Gintaras Rinkevičius (“Lohengrin“ and “Carmen“), Julius Geniušas, Modestas Pitrėnas, Vytautas Lukočius (“Alexander's Feast“), young conductors Modestas Barkauskas, Juozas Mantas Jauniškis, Dainius Pavilionis (“Ernani“). Guests from abroad will include Rolf Beck (“Alexander's Feast“), Gianluca Marciano (“Ernani“), Vincent De Kort (“Le nozze di Figaro“).
Opera and ballet performances will be graced by Lithuanian soloists who are having successful careers abroad: Sandra Janušaitė (“Lohengrin“, “Eugene Onegin“), Ieva Prudnikovaitė (“Carmen“), Laimonas Pautienius, Kostas Smoriginas.
You may purchase your tickets to the performances of the 2014-2015 Season at the Box Office of the LNOBT or online at www.opera.lt. Until 20 September all theatregoers can also make use of two subscription packages.
