Toronto, April 4, 2006: New Music Concerts proudly presents Baltic Currents, an evening celebrating the distinctive and engaging music of Lithuania. The concert features works by some of Lithuania’s foremost composers: Raminta Serksnyte, Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis and Algirdas Martinaitis. Works by Estonian composer Helena Tulve and Latvia’s Andris Dzenitis round out the programme. This concert is curated by Raminta Serksnyte, who first came to Toronto in 2003 to participate in NMC’s “A Glimpse at Lithuania” at the suggestion of guest composer Osvaldas Balakauskas. Impressed with her talent and her strong convictions and opinions about contemporary art, artistic director Robert Aitken invited her to curate this event designed to provide a portrait of her homeland and its neighbours. Serksnyte’s most recent piece, a violin concerto entitled Vortex premiered by Irvine Arditti at the Klangspuren Festival in Austria, will be performed by NMC principal violinist Fujiko Imajishi. The evening also includes the world premiere of Serksnyte’s Almond Blossom for chamber ensemble, written specifically for the occasion. The title refers to one of the last paintings of Van Gogh, which was the direct inspiration for the piece. Ms. Serksnyte will be in attendance, along with Tulve and Dzenitis

Raminta Serksnyte (born in 1975) completed her studies for a Master's degree in the class of composition under Prof. Osvaldas Balakauskas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music (2000). Her oeuvre is dominated by neo-romantic idiom, occasionally enriched with some features of minimalism, sonorism, jazz and folk music. Instrumental music predominates in her output - works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. A great amount of expression, colourful imagery and strong communicative ability are characteristic of her music; the composer pays much attention to the dramatic development, dynamics of form, and the matters of instrumentation. In her own words, a composition is a certain uplifted state of mind, materialized by means of sounds, and its impressiveness depends on the composer's technical mastery.

The Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1911) studied music in Warsaw and then in Leipzig, returning to Warsaw to study further as a painter. His colourful orchestral music includes evocative ‘program pieces’, notably the symphonic poems, The Sea and In the Forest. Raminta Serksnyte performs excerpts from his Preludes for solo piano.

Born in 1950, Algirdas Martinaitis studied composition with Prof. Eduardas Balsys at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. Having made a name for himself with his early chamber pieces, Martinaitis came to be known as a composer of poignantly introspective and nostalgic music, often fraught with impulsive, poetic character. He has written music stage and film music. In recent years, Algirdas Martinaitis has followed a new path by drawing on music from the past with which he feels spiritual affinity, rethinking and commenting on the works of his favourite composers. Cellist extraordinaire David Hetherington delivers Martinaitis’s Birds of Eden for electric cello and tape.

Helena Tulve was born in Tallin in 1972. She is one of the most original talents in contemporary Estonian music. Her elaborate and rationally constructed works achieve exquisite expressiveness and emotional tension. Her works attest to the richness and variety of her musical experiences and interests: the French spectral music, IRCAM’s experimentalism, Saariaho and Scelsi, Gregorian chant and exotic melody-designs. She was composer-in-residence at this year's Estonian Music Days. Members of the NMC Ensemble perform her intriguing composition, lumineux/opaque for violin, cello, piano and wineglasses.

Andris Dzenitis was born in Riga in 1978. He studied composition at the Vienna School of Music and Drama with Kurt Schwertsik. His music has been performed in Latvia and abroad: at the Baltic Breezes Over Malaysia, at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Gaida Festival in Vilnius, at Spelplan Stockholm and Maerzmusik Berlin, among others. Dzenitis is also active as a music critic and journalist working as editor for the music magazine Mûzikas saule (Sun of music). New Music Concerts welcomes back Canadian mezzo-soprano Patricia Green to perform Dzenitis’s Seven Madrigals by e.e.cummings.

Programme
- Raminta Serksnyte (Lithuania 1975) - Vortex** (2004) solo violin & 15 instruments
- Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (Lithuania 1875-1911) – Preludes for solo piano
- Algirdas Martinaitis (Lithuania 1950) – Birds of Eden** (1981) for electric cello and tape
- Helena Tulve (Estonia 1972) – lumineux/opaque** (2002) violin, cello, piano and wineglasses
- Andres Dzenitis (Latvia 1978) – Seven Madrigals by e.e.cummings** (2004) for mezzo-soprano and 6 instruments
- Raminta Serksnyte – Almond Blossom* (2005) for chamber ensemble (NMC commission)

*World Premiere; **Canadian Premiere

BALTIC CURRENTS
Sunday, April 30, 2006 at Glenn Gould Studio
7:15 PM Illuminating Introduction / 8:00 PM Concert
Guest Curator: Raminta Serksnyte, composer and pianist
Fujiko Imajishi, violin; Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano;
David Hetherington, cello;
New Music Concerts Ensemble; Robert Aitken, artistic director

Glenn Gould Studio (CBC Broadcast Centre): 250 Front St. West
Box Office: 416 205-5555
Individual Tickets: $25 regular $15 seniors $5 students (Cheapseats)
New Music Concerts: 416 961-9594
www.newmusicconcerts.com

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