Choir "Bel Canto" on May 19. will present the second of his "Open to the World" project a concert. The best Lithuanian amateur choir will bring together a hundred singers and musicians and one of the most popular composers in the world, Ola Gjeilo, at the Philharmonic in Vilnius. Friends of the Bel Canto choir will participate in the concert - the Swedish choir "Sofia Vokalensemble", the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, soloist Gunta Gelgotė, saxophonist Danielius Praspaliauskis, and Ola Gjeilo himself will play the piano.
After 3 years of acquaintance, Ola Gjeilo is a guest at Bel Canto choir
Ola Gjeilo, born in Norway, is one of the world's most popular composers of contemporary choral music. His work is distinguished by a rich, harmonious, spatial sound and is strongly influenced by the music of motion pictures.
Ola Gjeilo studied classical composition at the prestigious "The juilliard school” (New York City) and “The Royal College of Music” (London) in higher arts schools. Currently, the composer lives JAV, and this country strongly influenced his modern, easily recognizable musical style.
"I am glad that Ola Gjeilo finally decided to visit our choir. One of the world's most popular composers creates easy-to-listen choral music that is performed by thousands of choirs in the world's most famous concert halls. I am especially happy that our wonderful friends, one of Sweden's best choirs, the Sofia Vokalensemble, are also coming to visit us. Imagine what will happen at the Philharmonic when Ola Gjeilo's special, cinematicwritten in the style of music, Sunrise Mass will perform more gracefully than 80our and Swedish choir singers and the Lithuanian chamber orchestra", says Egidijus Kaveckas, artistic director and conductor of the Bel Canto choir.
The main highlights of the concert are "Dreamweaver" and "Sunrise Mass" that take you to movie theaters.
The highlight of Open to the World's second concert is Ola Gjeilo's four-part work for choir and string orchestra, Sunrise Mass. This exceptionally bright, moving work conveys the composer's modern and original approach to the centuries-old genre of church music masses.
Ola Gjeilo says that he wanted to present the traditional Latin text of the mass in a different way - in the piece, the extremely transparent, spacious, cosmic music turns into earthy and solid, and the sense of purity and light is replaced by more dramatic feelings. Even the traditional parts of the mass are given new names by the composer: The Spheres (Kyrie), Sunrise (Gloria), The City (Credo), Identity & The Ground (Sanctus / Benedictus and Agnus Dei).
Another special highlight of the concert is Ola Gjeilo's latest work "Dreamweaver". The lyrics of this piece are based on the well-known Norwegian medieval poem "Draumkvedet", which has many similarities with Dante's "Divine Comedy".
Bel Canto Choir presented Dreamweaver for the first time in 2017. Christmas in St. Catherine's Church and received particularly favorable evaluations from the audience. This time, the choir will narrate the mysterious journey of the "Dream Weaver" through the afterlife together with the full composition of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra on the stage of the Philharmonia.
Bel Canto Choir's musical project "Open to the World" is a series of 5 concerts dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the State of Lithuania. At the Open to the World concerts, the Bel Canto choir will perform together with the world's most famous contemporary composers Eric Whitacre (USA) and Ola Gjeilo (USA/Norway), the best Swedish choirs Svanholm Singers and Sofia Vokalensemble, the elite vocal ensemble VOCES8 (UK) and the wonderful Swiss choir Männerstimmen Basel.
The goal of the project is to present the best in the world to the Lithuanian audience, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the State of Lithuania with them, to be, create, make music and improve together.
All information about Open to the World: https://chorasbelcanto.lt/open-to-the-world
