Not until recently did it break through MO Museum and Vilnius City Opera for the opening of the exhibition "Iš tos operas", the organizers present the first evening of the cycle of events dedicated to the exhibition. September 20, 18 p.m. fans of opera, drama theater and singing poetry, and not only them, are invited to the creative meeting of two Kostas Smorigins!
Father and son, Kostas and Kostas, actor and opera soloist. One of the most beloved Lithuanian drama actors - Kostas Smoriginas - who started his career in the legendary plays of Eimuntas Nekrošias, created power in role-playing theater, so to speak, transferred his artistry to his son, who reveals it on the world's biggest opera stages, performing the main baritone parts. What about your father's musical ways? Does the genre of singing poetry, created and legitimized by Kost the elder, find a place in the eyes of an opera soloist? How do two stars of a similar but completely different stage art get along? Who has more tips? Do they have common experiences?
Having already become a living theater legend today, Kostas Smoriginas became famous in one of the most prominent performances in the history of Lithuania - E. Nekrošia's "Kvadrate". As noted by theater scholar Šarūnė Trinkūnaitė, "Kvadratas" "marked itself as a milestone event that legitimized authorial direction and the autonomy of theater as an independent art form.". It is interesting that the director himself argued for a long time with what he thought was an exaggerated emphasis on the play. However, the theatrical language chosen by E. Nekrošius allowed the audience to see in the story they were watching all the gloom and pain of life suppressed in the "square" limited by the "iron curtain" in the early 9s. As the critic says: "Nekrošius did not tell this story, but allowed each viewer to create their own individual one. This was undoubtedly the most innovative aspect of "The Square": it broke the trust in the power of the word (literature) and discovered the eloquence of pure theater - specific stage images and metaphors..."
Here we cannot fail to mention K. Smorigins's own acting suggestion. Without using words, he made the audience not only feel, but also understand the pain of his character, identify with him. Everyone sitting in the audience felt as if they were locked in the same square...
The fame of the performance spread beyond the "iron curtain" itself - the American theater producers who visited Vilnius at the time must have desperately wanted to see the rumored performance. The theaters tried to lie, covering up K. Smorigin's "illness", although in fact the authorities had forbidden foreigners to show the play. In the finale, after the chief theater director Dalia Tamulevičiūtė's visit to the then Minister of Culture, K. Smoriginas miraculously "recovered" and "Kvadratas" was performed in an empty hall only for American producers. And a few years later, the Lithuanians played it in America itself, in one of the first tours of this scale. In general, "Kvadratas" became Nekroš's longest-running play: it ran on the stage of the Youth Theater for 16 years - until 1996 (it was performed 315 times in total).
Well, what to do if you were born into the family of one of the most famous Lithuanian actors? Kostas Smoriginas chose to become one of the most famous Lithuanian baritones. When talking about his career, we cannot avoid the topic of artistry. Gifted with a sense of freedom and certainty on stage, openness to a variety of characters, the soloist achieves suggestiveness through persistent work. Although from the outside it seems that it is nothing for him. Kost's darkness is also innate, depending on the role, it turns into a reflection of anger, sadness or injustice. With his speech, song, voice and, most importantly, acting, Kostas enchants the audience on the most important stages of the world: London's Royal Opera House, Milan's La Scala, Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, San Francisco, Washington Operas, Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals.
The guest of the conversation - Rimvydas Stankevičius - poet, essayist, author of many lyrics of K. Smorigins' songs will help reveal the musical side of the actor. The conversation will be moderated by Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, artistic director of VCO. The director will remember both her childhood at the Youth Theater, eagerly watching the roles created by Kost Smorigins and his colleagues, the spirit of the Nekrošias-era theater that inspires her to this day, and she will also talk about the first meetings and work between her and the young opera talent Kost. In the creative evening, we will not only get to know the stars of the stage more closely, but also connect their lives with experiences spanning different theater generations.
VCO info.
