V International Joseph Achron Music Festival | Per Giunt and Van der Pals

Pavel GIUNTER (percussion)
Guntars FREIBERGS (percussion, Latvia)
Tobias van der PALS (cello, Denmark)

Program

• Antonio Vivaldi – Cello Sonata in A minor, RV 44
• Osvaldo Golijov – “Mariel”
• Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska – “Passacaglia” for vibraphone and marimba
• Leopold van der Pals – Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 146 / arrangement: Tobias van der Pals
• Anders Koppel – “Toccata” for vibraphone and marimba
• Arvo Pärt – “Fratres”

This program invites you to an unexpected, colorful, and sensitive dialogue between cello and percussion. The stage will host the percussion duo “Per Giunt” — Pavel Giunter and Guntars Freibergs — well known to the Lithuanian audience, alongside Danish cellist Tobias van der Pals.

Performing together for many years, the “Per Giunt” duo creates inventive programs and opens up broad possibilities of percussion instruments to listeners. In their music, percussion becomes an instrument of timbre, color, and space, not just rhythm. Tobias van der Pals, joining the duo, will enrich the program with the cello’s cantilena, a timbre close to the human voice, and a rich string sound. Together, these performers will create a program where Baroque expression meets contemporary meditation, rhythmic energy, and a sensitive chamber dialogue.

The program features works by Antonio Vivaldi, Osvaldo Golijov, Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Leopold van der Pals, Anders Koppel, and Arvo Pärt. This is music where different eras and aesthetics meet, but everything is united by a focus on sound, resonance, and live interaction between the performers on stage.

Leopold van der Pals’ Sonata for Solo Cello, arranged by Tobias van der Pals, brings a personal thread of family history into the program and reveals the performer’s close connection with his family’s musical legacy.