30 January 2020 at 19:00 St Catherine's Church, Vilnius City St Christopher's Chamber Orchestra together with the Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation "Aid to Lithuanian Children" present the concert "Clarinet Dynasty". The soloists of the concert are the young, but already renowned three clarinet virtuosos - the Makshtutis brothers. Two of the three brothers are beneficiaries of the Mstislav Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation "Help for Lithuanian Children".
The young clarinet virtuoso Antanas Makshtutis' biography includes studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Amsterdam Conservatory. The talented performer has already been heard by BBC Radio 3 listeners. Since 2018, the clarinettist has been living in Paris, where he continues to study the art of chamber music at the Alfred Cortot École Normale de Musique in Paris, together with the Indigo Trio. In the same year 2018. In 2018, Makštutis gave a recital at the Salle Cortot, one of the most famous halls of the French capital.
Antanas Makshtutis' younger brother, Stasys Makštutis, is a student at the Lyon Conservatoire and an alumnus of the Mstislav Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation "Help for Lithuanian Children". The clarinettist played for Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands when he was only ten. He has won 19 first prizes in international competitions, and his "young" career already includes more than 700 concerts in various European countries.
The youngest of the brothers, Rokas Makštutis, is following the same path, currently studying at the Juozas Naujalis Music Gymnasium in Kaunas and winning prizes in international competitions. Since 2017, the clarinettist has been supported by the Mstislav Rostropovičius Charity and Support Foundation "Help for Lithuanian Children", as well as a Maxima scholarship and a prize in the name of composer Zita Bružaitė. The young clarinettist regularly performs with orchestras not only in Lithuania but also abroad.
The brothers' programme is a journey through different eras of clarinet art. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major, KV 622, considered the most impressive clarinet concerto in the entire classical repertoire, was written for the composer's good friend, clarinettist Anton Stadler. Gioachino Rossini's Introduction to a Theme and Variations for clarinet remains one of the most popular virtuosic works for clarinet to this day, with allusions to arias by the famous opera master. "In this work, Rossini treats the clarinet as if it were an operatic prima donna", critics have written about the work. 20th century music for clarinet will be represented by the American composer Aaron Copland's Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, written at the request of one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Benny Goodman, known as the "King of Swing".
The project is organised in cooperation with the Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation "Help Lithuanian Children"
Artists:
Antanas Makštutis (clarinet)
Stasys Makštutis (clarinet)
Rokas Makštutis (clarinet)
St Christopher Chamber Orchestra
Conductor M.Barkauskas