Concert Programme
W. A. Mozart. Symphony No. 40, g-moll, K. 550
A. Dvořák. Cello Concerto, b-moll, Op. 104
One of the world's most prominent cello virtuosos and a member of today's classical music elite, David Geringas, is celebrating his 80th birthday. The artist’s incredibly vast repertoire, spanning from the early Baroque to contemporary music, highlights his extraordinary musical curiosity, exceptionally high technical mastery, and inner flexibility. Geringas's intellectual precision, stylistic versatility, and intuitive sense of melody and tone have earned him special respect and acclaim worldwide.
Born in Vilnius, the artist studied at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art in the cello class of Michailas Šenderovas. In 1968, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Winning the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970 opened the doors to the world's most famous concert halls for the then 24-year-old cellist, Rostropovich's favorite student. Throughout his career, D. Geringas has performed as a soloist with the world's most renowned symphony orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Chicago, and London Philharmonics, as well as the Montreal and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras, among others. The cellist has earned numerous prestigious awards, including two Echo Klassik awards and the Grand Prix du Disque for his recording of twelve cello concertos conducted by Bruno Giuranna. Renowned contemporary composers have dedicated many works to D. Geringas, and his discography comprises more than 120 recordings. Having dedicated many years to teaching, D. Geringas trained such famous performers in his legendary cello class as Gustav Rivinius, Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Monika Leskovar, Tatiana Vassiljeva, Jing Zhao, Johannes Moser, Maximilian Hornung, and Sol Gabetta.
In 1975, the cellist emigrated to Germany, where he currently lives in Berlin. Since 2005, he has been teaching at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. In 2002, D. Geringas was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts, and in 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. In 2023, the cellist was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
In this anniversary concert, Geringas will perform Antonín Dvořák's (1841–1904) Cello Concerto in B minor—one of the world's most famous concertos in the genre, often referred to as the "grand" or "royal" concerto. The piece's melodic thematic material and orchestration transport the listener into the refreshing landscapes of the composer's beloved Bohemia.
In the first half of the concert, Geringas will take the conductor's podium, leading the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in a performance of one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756–1791) most celebrated works—Symphony No. 40 in G minor. The summer of 1788 was a period of exceptional productivity for Mozart: in just three months, the composer wrote his final three symphonies. Symphony No. 40 in G minor is one of only two symphonies the composer wrote in minor keys, reflecting Mozart's interest in the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) German spiritual and literary movement of the 1750s–1770s, which brought dramatic emotions to the forefront as a counterpoint to the prevailing Enlightenment rationalism of the time.