OPEROS LOBYNAI

TREASURES OF OPERA

The BIRŠTONAS SUMMER MUSIC festival will open with the concert “Treasures of Opera”, featuring Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre soloist Julija Stupnianek-Kalėdienė and pianist Giedrė Muralytė-Eriksonė.

The programme spans several periods in the history of opera, from the splendour and vocal virtuosity of Baroque music to the emotional depth of Romantic opera. It will feature works by Riccardo Broschi, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell and Antonín Dvořák.

A particularly distinctive part of the programme is devoted to arias by Riccardo Broschi. His younger brother Carlo Broschi, who entered music history under the name Farinelli, was one of the most celebrated operatic castrati of the eighteenth century. He astonished audiences with his extraordinary vocal range, breath control, agility and virtuosity. Riccardo composed some of his arias with his brother’s exceptional vocal abilities in mind – his long phrases, elaborate coloratura, daring leaps between registers and sudden emotional shifts. The works performed in this concert will offer a rare encounter not only with Baroque music seldom heard today, but also with the remarkable creative relationship between the two brothers – the meeting of a composer’s imagination and a legendary singer’s voice.

The legend of Farinelli was rediscovered by contemporary audiences through Gérard Corbiau’s internationally acclaimed 1994 film Farinelli. Since the authentic voice of a castrato cannot be recreated, the filmmakers engaged two distinguished soloists: Polish coloratura soprano Ewa Małas-Godlewska and American countertenor Derek Lee Ragin. Their voices were recorded separately, with some passages assembled note by note, and then digitally combined. The aim was to approximate the sound described by Farinelli’s contemporaries – combining male vocal power, the high register of a soprano, exceptional agility and an almost otherworldly timbre. This remarkable sound experiment opened the world of Baroque opera to cinema audiences and brought renewed attention to the music of Riccardo Broschi.

Julija Stupnianek-Kalėdienė is a soloist with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, an associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and a prize-winner of international competitions. She made her debut at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata. Her subsequent roles have included Donna Anna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Liù in Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, Juliette in Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Adina in Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Tatyana in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème, and many others.

Italian Baroque arias, opera, German Lied, Russian romances, and works by French and Lithuanian composers form an important part of the singer’s repertoire. She has performed in numerous European countries, appeared at international festivals and given Baroque music masterclasses in Italy, as well as masterclasses in Greece and Kazakhstan. At the international “Romanzata in San Marino” competition, Julija Stupnianek-Kalėdienė received the title “Queen of Romance”.

Pianist Dr Giedrė Muralytė-Eriksonė is a prize-winner of international competitions and senior accompanist at the Department of Singing of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She completed her studies at the Academy in the class of Professor Halina Radvilaitė and later continued her postgraduate artistic training with Professor Petras Geniušas and Associate Professor V. Dabkutė. In 2020, she was awarded a Doctorate in Arts.

Giedrė Muralytė-Eriksonė performs as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician in Lithuania and abroad. Her artistic and scholarly work focuses particularly on British vocal music, German Romantic repertoire and contemporary Scandinavian music. She has given recitals at Vilnius Town Hall, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic, the Kaunas State Philharmonic and the Royal Opera House Muscat, and has appeared at international festivals. In 2021, she released the album Waves.

Performers:
Julija Stupnianek-Kalėdienė, soprano
Giedrė Muralytė-Eriksonė, piano

Programme: Riccardo Broschi, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell, Antonín Dvořák

Monday, 3 August, 7 p.m.
Birštonas Kurhaus, 2 B. Sruogos Street