The year 2019 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko, premier composer, conductor, organ player, educator, director of Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki, and the father of Polish opera. Embracing operas, art songs, cantatas, religious music, symphonic works, chamber and solo pieces, operettas, ballets, and theatre music, his oeuvre impresses with its diversity, melodic richness, and deeply-rooted connection with the Polish music heritage. His operas and art songs are the core of Polish vocal literature and often the linchpin of the repertoires of Poland’s greatest singers.

Artist:

Neringa Valuntonyte (Lithuania) - piano

Programme:

S. Moniuszko - Trzy Polonezy (Des- dur, Es-dur, es-moll)
S. Moniuszko - Nokturn As-dur
S. Moniuszko - Mazur D-dur
S. Moniuszko - Polka Daniel
S. Moniuszko - Polka Gabriela
C. Schumann - Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann Op. 20
G. Bacewicz - Sonata fortepianowa nr 2
F. Chopin - Wybrane preludia z op. 28

Lithuanian pianist Neringa Valuntonyte is gathering audiences throughout Europe with a big variety of solo and chamber music repertoire, giving a lot of attention to Eastern European music of both traditional and contemporary styles. Always searching for different performance ideas, Neringa branches out by playing pieces from rarely-heard composers in combination with the well-known traditional repertoire. These are composers such as G. Bacewicz, S. Moniuszko, and she also performs from a big selection of Lithuanian composers.
Currently living in Hannover, Neringa has increased her number of performances in Germany after her successful debut with her recital ''En Voyage'' in ''Jiang Artists Festival'' in 2018 at Kaufbeuren. This year in 2019, she will be performing again in the “Jiang Artists Festival” and will also be playing in the German-Polish Festival “Viva Polonia”, where she will perform in Düsseldorf, Köln and Bremen.
At the moment, Neringa is also involved in an outreach program. She has become a scholar of “YEHUDI MENUHIN Live Music Now Hannover e. V.”, where together with singers Ketevan Chuntishvili and Jan Bukowski, they give chamber music performances for people in psychiatric hospitals, hospices, retirement homes and other similar institutions.
Outside of Germany, Neringa has also held numerous concerts in Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Austria and Ukraine. She has given significant performances and solo recitals at the Lviv National Music Academy (Ukraine), Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy, the IInd Vilnius piano festival (Lithuania), ''Christofer Summer Festival'' (Vilnius, Lithuania), ''Young talents of Vaidilos Klasika'' (Vilnius, Lithuania), International M. K. Čiurlionis Music Festival (Palanga, Lithuania), International project “Crossing Keyboards“ (Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki), Gradus International Piano Festival (Aarhus, Denmark), and also the International Festival "Bieszczady bez granic" (Sanok, Poland) where she performed L. van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Lviv chamber orchestra “Akademia“ conducted by I. Pylatiuk.
Neringa is also active in various chamber music projects. With the Piano Trio “Tribus”, she won a piano chamber music prize in ISA'17 (Reichenau an der Rax, Austria), and also received an honorary prize from the President of the Republic of Lithuania. She has also had a collaboration with pianists P. Pancekauskas and J. Sodeika, and together they recorded “Iodio”, a piece written for three pianos by the Lithuanian composer G. Sodeika for his CD production “Tremors”.
In 2008-2013, Neringa was a recipient of a scholarship from the foundation ''Support to Lithuania‘s Children'', which was established by cellist and conductor M. Rostropovich.
Neringa is currently completing her Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in the piano class of Prof. E. Kupiec. Neringa has already received a Bachelor’s degree from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy, a school degree from the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts where she studied with Prof. A. Žvirblytė, and her first musical education was with “Teacher-Expert” G. Beleckienė.

 https://www.valuntonyte.com/