Experience the Vibrant Sounds of Lithuanian Culture through Our Work

Since achieving independence in 1991, the Lithuanian people have embraced their unique and ancient culture in ways that were not allowed during the decades of Soviet rule. In particular, a distinct musical culture has emerged with roots in deep antiquity. My exposure to this culture, through my own Lithuanian heritage, has informed my own composition and performance of music in a revolutionary way. For me, it has built a bridge between the ancient sounds of a unique people, and the vibrant new sounds of today. This new music, along with the story of its creation, is what I and my colleagues of the Kalnas Ensemble now offer to audiences in concerts and informal workshop experiences.

Dr. Stanley Chepaitis

The Sun is Setting

Saulala Sadina Lylos

This beautiful Sutartines seems to be a song sung at the end of a long day of work in the fields. It marks the exact place and time of sunset, perhaps on a special day. My composition takes the melody and its dissonant counterpoint through virtuosic solos for all players, leading to a slow improvised blues in d minor.

Little Bee

Ka Biçe

This Sutartines depicts the conversations of humans and a bee. Bees were very important in the old Lithuanian religion. Their goddess was Austéja. In modern Lithuanian, beehives are spoken of as families, and to address your friend as Biçiulis (bee friend) is a term of endearment. Naturally, for a composer, writing a piece about a bee opens up some fun possibilities.

Advent Song

Leliumoj

This is one of those haunting melodies from the region of Dzûkija. It is an advent or midwinter song depicting the plight of a young bride who is ordered by her rude father in law to run barefoot over the bridge in wintertime, searching for things which don’t really exist. On the bridge, she meets her own father, who explains the riddles and tells her how to solve them. My composition surrounds the exquisite melody with counterpoints and then depicts the young bride’s panic in some high energy jazz.

String Quartet no. 5

From The Old Country

This is my attempt to build a multi movement work in the great tradition of the string quartet. Each movement is based on a different Lithuanian song, but the counterpoints and structural elements thread through the whole piece.

Allegro – This is based on a lighthearted Sutartines, Kūkal Rože Ratilio; a midsummer ditty depicting young girls dancing around a rosebush.

Andante – This is based on a song of Dzûkija, Vai Zydek Zydek. The ravishingly beautiful melody sets a text rich with metaphor, comparing the outer world of nature and the inner world of the young orphaned girl who wonders how she can marry in her orphaned state.

Presto – This is based on another quick paced and lighthearted Sutartines, Ciutela Ciutute. The title is a pure vocable, nonsense words that fit the tune and the mood.