October 25 In the LNOBT symphony orchestra's concert "Dedication", dedicated to the memory of Lithuanian tenor Virgilij Noreika (1935-2018), three of his former students will appear on stage - world-class tenors Kristian Benedikt, Algirdas Drevinskas and Merūnas Vitulskis. They will perform the most beautiful arias from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Piotr Tchaikovsky.
Tenor Algirdas Drevinskas, who lives and works in Saarbrucken, Germany, completed his studies as an opera singer at the LMTA in V. Noreika's class in 1995, having already started his studies at the University of the Arts in Graz (Austria). After receiving a master's degree with honors from the latter university, he became a member of the opera troupe of the Saarland State Theater (Saarl￤ndisches Staatstheater) and has been singing in this German theater for 20 years. A. Drevinskas created almost 100 tenor roles on stage. in 2011 for the role of Lenski, he was awarded the prize of the Society of Supporters of the Saarbrücken Theater Opera. The soloist sang in German, Austrian, Swiss, Russian theaters, international music festivals in Europe, Japan and JAV. This season, after a 25-year break, we will hear A. Drevinska in LNOBT performances: already on October 27. he will sing the part of Alfredo in "La Traviata", and on December 12 and 14 - the main part in the opera "Idomenejas".
Another former student of V. Noreika, tenor Merūnas Vitulskis, who became famous in the TV project "Road to the Stars", while studying in 2008. Laagna-Laul won the Grand Prix at the international competition held in Estonia, took 2009st place at the international song festival Canzoni dal Mondo in Pompeii (Italy); in XNUMX became the winner in the competition to win the LMTA honorary doctor Stasios Bar award; In the XNUMXth competition of vocalists and instrumentalists of Societa Umanitaria in Milan (Italy), he made it to the final five and won a tour of Europe. He sang as a guest soloist in the opera houses of Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Great Britain and Estonia. LNOBT sang Alfredo in "La Traviata", Rudolph in "Bohemia", Pinkerton in "Madam Butterfly" and Lensky in the opera "Eugene Onegin". During the last years of V. Noreika's life, M. Vitulskis often performed together with his Teacher and testified that this was a great lesson in faithfulness to the stage: "V. Noreika was energetic beyond his years, both during concerts and in the recording studio. Sometimes it seemed that he had more strength than his much younger colleagues. An active, warm, always supportive person. Diplomat of the highest order. Alone and unattainable together. He loved his wife and family madly. V. Noreika will always remain in my memory with a smile on his face."
Kristian Benedikt (Vaidas Vyšniauskas) once applied himself to Virgilijius Noreika's class of singing students at LMTA and studied there the longest among the "Dedication" participants: even seven years. "I was not the best, the easiest student of his." Each flower has its own blooming time: some bloom as soon as the snow melts, others later. My flowering was a little later", admitted the soloist. However, he received his hour of triumph: Kristian Benedikt's voice has already sounded in the opera theaters of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Russia, Austria, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, England, China, Chile, Mexico, Canada, and recently in the role of Samson in the opera " Samsonas ir Dalila" made its Lithuanian debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Kristian Benedikt also created a number of bright roles on the LNOBT stage: here he sang in the operas "Othello", "Zydė", "Karmen", "Madame Butterfly", "Ernani", "La Traviata" and others.
The program of the "Dedication" concert was composed by the conductor Sesto Quatrini. in 2017 in the spring, while preparing the production of Vincenzo Bellini's opera "Capulets and Montagues" at LNOBT, he met V. Noreikas and remembers him as a kind person who spared neither good words nor valuable comments.
"Therefore, I think V. Noreika somewhere high up will be satisfied that it is dedicated to his memory a concert I am the conductor. Taking into account his personality, I also selected the repertoire for the evening. We will start with Piotr Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony in E minor, op.64, because V. Noreika sang many of this composer's works. And in the second part of the concert, we will hear three Lithuanian tenors trained by the Teacher, singing in famous theaters around the world. When offering them a repertoire, I also took into account V. Noreika's vocal biography. For myself concert will be doubly significant: first of all, the fact that I will be proud to appear in public for the first time as the artistic director of the LNOBT Opera, and at the same time, the fact that the concert will be dedicated to a person who should be proud of you. After all, V. Noreika was the most prominent opera master that Lithuania has ever had," the conductor is convinced.
Tenors Kristian Benedikt, Algirdas Drevinskas and Merūnas Vitulskis will sing for free in the concert dedicated to their Teacher, and concert listeners will have the opportunity to donate funds to perpetuate V. Noreika's memory.
