Vilnius Festival. The Illuminations. Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Hossein Pishkar, St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra

Performers:
VILNIUS CITY MUNICIPALITY ST. CHRISTOPHER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Barkauskas)
Soloist ARYEH NUSSBAUM COHEN (countertenor, USA)
Conductor HOSSEIN PISHKAR (Iran)

Programme:
FELIX MENDELSSOHN – String Symphony No. 12 in G minor, MWV N 12
GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL – Aria Eternal Source of Light Divine from Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, HWV 74
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – Church cantata Ich Habe Genug (I Have Enough), BWV 82
GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL – Aria O Lord, Whose Mercies Numberless from the oratorio Saul, HWV 53
PIETRO FRANCESCO CAVALLI – Endimione aria Erme, e solinghe cime… Lucidissima face (Lonely and Deserted Peaks… Most Radiant Face) from the dramma per musica La Calisto
ANTONIO VIVALDI – Motet Clarae stellae, scintillate, RV 625
SAMUEL BARBER – Sure on this Shining Night, Op. 13 No. 3, from Four Songs (text by James Agee)
MAURICE RAVEL – Kaddish from Deux mélodies hébraïques (Two Hebrew Melodies)
ALBERT ROUSSEL – Symphonette for strings, Op. 52

The Vilnius Festival programmes traditionally combine music from earlier and newer eras, with this stylistic panorama interpreted by the world’s most renowned performers. This time, the festival will feature a rising star – young countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen from the US. Together with the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, he will perform a selection of Baroque vocal music masterpieces, ranging from church music to magnificent arias and 20th-century vocal works. The meaningful programme will be complemented by orchestral music from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Countertenor Cohen performs an extremely wide repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music with his ‘astonishingly beautiful,’ ‘golden’ (The Guardian) voice. The New York Times calls him a ‘young star’ and a ‘complete artist,’ while the San Francisco Chronicle writes: ‘He is extravagantly talented… ready to set new boundaries for what is possible for singers with such a unique voice type.’ Passionately committed to creating unforgettable performances of stunning vocal beauty and dramatic repertoire, the singer has earned a reputation as ‘a new generation of countertenors’ (Limelight).

The experienced, versatile St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra (artistic director Modestas Barkauskas), which has been interpreting Baroque and contemporary music for more than three decades, will be conducted this evening by Hossein Pishkar. Born in Iran has been highly regarded for his talent in conveying rousing rhythms and majestic orchestral music since his studies in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he resides now. Last year, the Italian press wrote that H. Pishkar is a very interesting young conductor who knows his craft – from clear and precise gestures to complete control of the stage. He learned the art of conducting from such masters as Riccardo Muti and Bernard Haitink, worked as an assistant to François-Xavier Roth and Sylvain Cambreling, and served as a second conductor at the Cologne and Paris philharmonies as well as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 2017, the young maestro won the prestigious international competition for young conductors organized by the German Music Council in cooperation with the main music institutions in Cologne, and also received the Ernst von Schuch Family Foundation sponsorship award. As a guest conductor, Pishkar has appeared with orchestras in Bonn, Stuttgart, Belgrade, Strasbourg, Lausanne, Granada, Qatar, and many others, and has made his debut in opera productions at the Royal Danish Opera, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Ravenna Festival, and elsewhere.