“Concerto and Installation for Piano and a Piece of Furniture” is a unique and innovative project that blends the beauty of classical music with modern technology, creating an impressive auditory and visual journey. Presented by the creators of the “Kosmos Theatre”, this interdisciplinary project invites the audience to reflect on our relationship with ourselves and our environment by exploring the dual nature of the piano as both a musical instrument and a piece of household furniture.
The idea for the project stems from Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich’s thought that a piano without a pianist is merely a piece of furniture, whose true concert and musical potential is determined by the people around it. In this project, a concert grand piano and an old robotic piano engage in a dialogue, revealing their dual nature. Pianist Julija Bagdonavičiūtė performs live fragments of works by renowned composers such as Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Erik Satie, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, George Crumb, and Arvo Pärt. Meanwhile, in another space, the concert is broadcast live with breathtaking sound and light effects integrated into the furniture installation, immersing the audience in a mysterious world.
The project team consists of experienced and talented artists. Electroacoustic music composer Andrius Šiurys created a sound montage reminiscent of a fragmented dream, while electronic music composer Domantas Pūras enriched the broadcast concert with unexpected musical nuances. The mechanized piano installation, which transformed a lonely piano into a breathtaking “actor,” was created by robotics engineer and metallurgist Deividas Dzikevičius. The light choreography and spatial dramaturgy are directed by theater director Žilvinas Vingelis. The collaboration of these talented artists is a perfect example of how academic concert music and modern technology open up new creative potential.
Concerto and Installation for Piano and a Piece of Furniture successfully debuted in the “OFF” program of the Kaunas Contemporary Performing Arts Festival “ConTempo.” After receiving great interest from the audience, the project was invited to participate in various festivals and events, such as the Kaunas City Chamber Theater Festival “Išeities taškas,” the Vilnius Light Festival, the “Culture Night” festival, the “Comic Con Baltics” fair, classical music festival “Culture Week” in Marijampolė, contemporary music festival “Unseen Notes” in Raseiniai, “Virus” in Šiauliai. The versatility of this project allows it to adapt to different audiences and spaces, from avant-garde contemporary art scenes to traditional classical music festivals.
CREATIVE TEAM
Pianist – Julija Bagdonavičiūtė,
director – Žilvinas Vingelis,
composers: Andrius Šiurys, Domantas Pūras,
engineer – Deividas Dzikevičius.
producer- Darius Vizbaras
"Compost" is a work combining physical theatre, contemporary circus and (post)instrumental live music, which seeks to illustrate the process of composting through artistic means. What is the ecological balance made of, how does it intertwine with our personal relationships? By creating a distinctive, play-based logic for the development of the work and by choosing rejected musical instruments that are not suitable for normal playing, the performance stage here functions as a composting ecosystem where the roles and responsibilities of the performers are intertwined in the intermediate stages of the work.
The director of this work, Greta Štiormer, has a personal relationship with the sorting industry - her dad is one of the main engineers of the Riga Waste Disposal Organisation, which has created and fostered a distinctive industrial eco-system.
The intricate theme of ecology creates an artistic engineering narrative, full of symbols and recognisable references to the fragility of our relationship with each other and the invisible influence we have on each other. The unusual team composition - a trio of two pianists and a circus performer - will create a symbiosis of different performing genres, experimenting with similarities and differences in expressions to create a distinctive idea of stage compost.
Based on playful principles, the work questions the interrelationships and interdependence between people, matter and stereotypes. By conceiving the scenography and the musical instruments as objects made from recycled materials and creating special rules of operation around them, the performers on stage do not cling to a single identity: rather, they search for it in a complex, multifaceted and ever-changing environment.
CREATIVE TEAM
Pianists - Medeinė Mickevikevičiūtė and Julija Bagdonavičiūtė
Circus performer, actor - Lukas Dirsė
Composer - Jūra Elena Šedytė
Director - Greta Štiormer
Scenographer, sculptor - Martynas Bernatonis
Costume designer - Valdemara Jasulaitytė
Lighting designer - Saskia Fischer
Lighting assistant - Edgaras Varkulevičius
Score designer - Jūra Elena Šedytė
Score creator - Kamilė Dambrauskaitė
Projection designer - Jūra Elena Šedytė
Producer - Erika Urbelevič
Creative consultant - Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė
Sound technical consultant - Simonas Nekrošius
Sound Director - Adomas Palekas
MUA - Sidas Martinavičius.