FULL KLAIPEDA – The Opera Klaipeda 2023 Mindaugas Rojus, Rosana Štemanetian, Ernesta Stankutė

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: KLAIPEDA - The Opera  
• Composer: Loreta Narvilaitė, Vladimir Konstantinovas, Donatas Bielkauskas, Kristijonas Lučinska  
• Libretto: Arvydas Juozaitis    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Historic Paul Lindenau Shipyard (Klaipėdos elingas), Klaipeda, Lithuania  
• Recorded: August 4, 2023
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Mindaugas Rojus, Rosana Štemanetian, Ernesta Stankutė, Rita Petrauskaitė, Šarūnas Šapalas, Šarūnas Juškevičius, Evert Sooster.Vincas, Kęstutis Nevulis, Virginijus Pupšys, Aurimas Raulinavičius
• Conductor: Tomas Ambrozaiti  
• Orchestra: Klaipėda State Music Theatre Symphony Orchestra.  
• Chorus: Klaipėda State Musical Theatre Chorus  
• Chorus Master: Vladimiras Konstantinovas  
• Ballet: Klaipėda State Musical Theatre Ballet  
• Choreographer: Aušra Krasauskaitė  
• Stage Director: Gytis Padegimas  
• Stage Designer: Birutė Ukrinaitė  
• Costume Designer: Birutė Ukrinaitė  
• Lighting Designer: Andrius Stasiulis  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: LTR  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Broadcast
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  In 2023, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the annexation of Klaipėda region to Lithuania, the Klaipėda State Musical Theatre commissioned four composers living in Klaipėda to create an opera, where the events of the century-old age would be revived, the aspirations of the old Lithuanians who lived in Klaipėda region and the aspirations of the Lithuanians who came from the Great Lithuania, and a special spirit of place and time, would be fulfilled. According to Arvydas Juozaitis, a philosopher and writer who wrote a libretto for opera, the thematic axis of the stories developed in all three opera’s actions are three essential concepts that characterize the history of Klaipėda region – personality, religion, language.

  In the first act of the opera, we meet the first seven of the large number of opera actors. Among them are such famous historical figures of Lithuania Minor as printer Martynas Jankus and his daughter Elze, evangelical priest Vilius Gaigalaitis, former book smuggler from the Great Lithuania, intelligence officer Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys, writer Ėvė Simonait (Ieva Simonaitytė). At the end of the action, the goal is to unite Lithuania Minor with the Great Lithuania. All this happens in 1922. Christmas Eve, in the village of Lithuania Minor. “Everyone is waiting for the festival, so the music is mostly bright, small, hopeful,” said Loreta Narvilaitė, the creator of the first action music.

  The second action begins on January 6, 1923, during the feast of the Three Kings. On that day, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Ernestas Galvanauskas, a writer and public figure, the chairman of the Riflemen’s Union Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, the philosopher Vilhelmas Storosta (Vydūnas) and the nominal political leader of the Klaipėda Uprising, Erdmonaitis, are discussing the plan of annexation of Klaipėda. Another painting includes the prefect of the Memmel, Gabriel Jean Petsnė and his woman. The woman is not angry about the circumstances that have thrown her into the “European corner,” blamed her husband for everything, but Petisnė remains true to the idea of a European mission. Against the backdrop of this “drama” there is a group of French soldiers who are ready for the battle… The next episode takes place in a church filled with civilian-dressed Lithuanian soldiers, as well as preparing for the fight. When the French enter the church, the atmosphere is heating up, the dramatism of the situation reaches its climax at the very end of this action. “I am very interested in this topic because of historical uniqueness and, of course, because I have been a Klaipėda resident for a long time, I know the ethnic and ecclesiastical music of this region, and most importantly, this music has somehow become close to me,” the composer Vladimir Konstantinov said about the musical inspirations of this action.

  The music for the third opera is created by two composers living in Klaipėda for several decades and famous artists Kristijonas Lučinskas (Drizhas) and Donatas Bielkauskas (Donis). In the scenes they create, the live sound of the orchestra is connected to a pre-recorded soundtrack of electronic music. According to K. Lucinsk, it will sound the city itself: “these are the various sounds of the place that surround us and even the vibrations that we don’t usually hear, but we can capture with special microphones.” Using the new technologies for the creation and processing of sounds, both artists from acoustic material of various origins arrange a multi-layered opera’s third-actual musical fabric. Modern opera trends interested in D. Bielkauskas said that he avoided the festive pathos and relied on a more subjective assessment of historical events: “I would like this story opera to take care of the audience not only to commemorate the exceptionality of our country not only to commemorate the significant event for the whole of Lithuania, but also by realizing the multi-layered daily experience of the people who lived here, their hope.”

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