The evening program was dedicated to a single instrument and focused listening. It began with J.S. Bach and Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” and ended with Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” Between these two musical anchors, J.S. Bach’s solo violin works, Andrius Štoharenka’s “Fantasy,” Vytautas Barkauskas’s “Partita,” and M. Švėgžda von Bekker’s own pieces from the cycle “Sound and Word” (“Le son et la parole”) were performed.
The rain that started during the concert did not stop the evening. On the contrary – it further highlighted the fragility and purity of the program: one person, one violin, a craft nurtured for decades, and an old town garden where every sound gains special weight. The music here sounded almost sacred – as if a completely different flow of time briefly opened in a small city space.
The performer himself calls Vilnius a place he returns to not only to perform. “It is the place where my musical path began, where my values and first creative impulses were formed. Although I have lived in various European cities for many years, I always return to Vilnius as to my spiritual home,” says M. Švėgžda von Bekker.
According to the violinist, an open-air concert changes the very relationship between music and the listener. “I think this format brings music back to its origins – to the community and the natural human relationship with the environment. It is a less formal but often deeper encounter between the performer and the audience,” he states.
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The Carmelite Monastery Garden at the Gate of Dawn opens this summer as a small chamber music stage right in the heart of Vilnius Old Town. The space, designed for just over a hundred listeners, allows the concert to take place without a large stage distance: here the sound of the instrument is complemented by the evening light, the city background, and the garden’s vitality.
“The Carmelite Garden resembles a small island of silence in the city center. Here history, nature, and architecture create a special atmosphere where music can sound very intimate and sincere,” says M. Švėgžda von Bekker.
In the near future, the sounds of jazz will continue the classical music in the “Summer Moods” evenings at the Carmelite Garden. On August 27, the Karolis Šarkus trio will perform here, and on September 3, the duo “CinAmono” of Laura Budreckytė’s voice and Vytis Nivinskas’s double bass will appear, where jazz, blues, echoes of chamber music, and improvisation merge into a unique, colorful sound.
