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Culture
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 Art
exhibit of Egle Vertelkaite
Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in New York and the
Art Gallery “Something Unexpected”,
Nyack, NY,
cordially invite you to the opening of the exhibition by Eglė Vertelkaitė
Tuesday, March 4, 2008,
6 – 8 p.m.
Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in New York
420 Fifth Ave (corner of 37 Street) Third Floor
New York, NY, 10018.
A line as a tool of poetry and politics
Eglė Vertelkaitė takes graphic art back to its source. Grapho in Greek
means to write. Eglė is making a print the same way a Russian avant-garde
poet Vladimir Maykovsky (1893-1930) was writing poetry – just seen from the
reversed perspective. To cut easy-flowing stanzas and to make graphics
structures from words for Mayakovsky meant to call masses, to speak at a top
of his voice. Eglė Vertelkaitė is cutting up the space with her extended
horizontal planes. She is bringing linear structure back to graphic works.
Not a line as means of self-expression, but a time-line, a notebook, which
looks like endless staffs. Sometimes even a timetable. Instead following the
line a viewer is asked to read between the lines, to contemplate the space
in-between. Her parallel lines do not define shape or measure the distance –
they are counting time (18 and half year). Lineal, historical and cyclical,
mythological time, repeating the same motives and patterns.
However, Mayakovsky was not a point of reference for Eglė. A key figure
in the art world for her is Cindy Sherman, a photographer with a thousand
selves. Contemporary art is all about performative identity, repetition,
killing the original and searching for plurality. In Scream by Vertelkaitė
we see Cindy Sherman performing Lithuanian folk song (just her big mouth and
the sound waves), and then Cindy is rising to heaven and is reflected on the
water – but we don’t know which image is a reflection. We all consist of
bits and pieces of information. And when the sound or image is transformed
to the sequence of numbers, one can hardly tell the difference between a
folk song and a communist, futurist or any other manifesto. Eglė Vertelkaitė
is breaking visual and conceptual codes juxtaposing different contexts. Legs
of cancan dancers reflect the multiple gesture of fascist salute – both
dancers and solders are merely body-machines under total control of power
structures. Drawing a line is always already a political gesture. It implies
order and separation, ruling and borders.
Still, the artist draws the lines. The lines of the body and the battle
lines. Minimalist and non-referential parallels in Vertelkaitė’s prints turn
to hidden messages and metaphors. Line of soldiers is transformed to laugh
lines – hundreds of faces in the photograph became happy smiles (When
Soldiers...). And these smiling faces look similar to small dots in flower (Target).
A line of politics and a line of poetry are not interchangeable, but they
can have similar rhythmic structure. One needs a special linear scale to
combine the steel wool poetry and a masquerade of thousand selves. But
everything is possible between the lines. When plurality takes over
perspective, deadlines are baseless.
Laima Kreivytė
PAST CULTURAL EVENTS - 2007
 Pianist
Kasparas Uiniskas New York
debut
Giedre Productions Ltd. in association with
The Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in New York presents
Pianist Kasparas Uinskas in New York debut at
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 8:30p.m.
Program: Haydn, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Dvarionas
Tickets: $ 25 CarnegieCharge 1 (212) 247 7800,
www.carnegiehall.org or
Giedre Productions, Ltd. 1 (718) 776-1687
 Global
Warming Christmas in Nyack, NY
Art Gallery „Something
Unexpected“ in Nyack, NY presents an exhibition "GLOBAL WARMING
CHRISTMAS"
Featuring Lithuanian artists Antanas Adomaitis, Eglė Babilaitė,
Aurelija Čepulinskaitė, Tania Diščenko, Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, Marius
Liugaila, Jūratė Rekevičiūtė, Kristina Rupšytė, Laisvydė Šalčiūtė, Vitalis
Čepkauskas, Eglė Vertelkaitė, Neringa Žukauskaitė.
December 8, 2007 – January 9, 2008. Reception: Saturday, December 8,
5 - 8 pm and Sunday, December 9, 2 - 6 pm
Gallery hours:
Wednesday - Sunday 12pm - 5pm
Art Gallery „Something Unexpected“
152 Main Street
Nyack, New York 10960
(845) 358-1196
www.something-unexpected.com
Art Gallery is located on the West Bank of the Hudson 25 Miles North of
New York City.
 Petras
Vyšniauskas played in New York
On December 2, 2007
Petras Vysniauskas (saxophone)
and Dalius Naujokaitis (drums) played at New York Zebon Cafe.
The evening of jazz improvizations was was sponsored by the Consualte
General and was arranged in connection with the beginning of the Holiday Season.
More information:
WWW.ZEBULONCAFECONCERT.COM
 Eglė
Vertelkaitė. Graphic art from Lithuania in Nyack, NY
October 27 – November 29, 2007 Art
Gallery „Something Uniexpected“ in Nyak, NY, presents
an exhibition
of graphic art "Othe The Same" by
Eglė Vertelkaitė.
Opening reception:
Saturday , October 27, 2007, 5pm - 8 pm
Sunday, October 28, 2007, 2 pm - 6 pm
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Sunday 12pm - 5pm.
The Gallery is located on the West Bank of the Hudson
25
miles North of New York City.
Address:
Art Gallery
„Something Unexpected“
152 Main Street
Nyack, NY10960
Tel. (845) 358-1196
www.something-unexpected.com
 Lithuanian
organist
Jūratė Landsbergytė
New York debut
The Consulate General and the Manhattan Chapter of the
Lithuanian American Community on November 11, 2007
organized the New York debut of organist
Jūratė Landsbergytė
at
Christ and St. Stephen's Church
120 W. 69th Street
New York, N.Y. 10001.
Program "Baltic Landscapes" was dedicated to the unity of the Baltic peoples
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Toccata and Fugue d-moll
M.K.Ciurlionis (1875-1911) Three preludes “The Sea”, "O Holly Lord”,
"Evening bells'
Toomas Siitan (b. 1958) “Capriccio for a Beloved Teacher upon Departure, for
Arvo Part"
Gracijus Sakalauskas (b. 1955) Canon "Domine, clamavi ad te" choral, for
meditation and post scriptum (1984)
Vytautas Bacevicius (1905-1970) "Poem of the Sea"
Aivars Kalejs (b.1951) Via dolorosa for the victims of Soviet occupation,
deported to Siberia
Cesar Franck (1822-1890) Choral a-moll
Following the concert Jurate Landsbergyte will present her new book
"Liturgical Music and Spirituality in Lithuania", including recordings of 17
century Lithuanian music from the Kraziai, Sapiega and Braunsberg tablets
(in Lithuanian).
 Folk-dance
and music group “Levindra” from Utena performed in New York
Teachers’ Folk-dance and music group “Levindra” from Utena, Lithuania,
performed in New York on November 10, 2007, at Maironis Lithuanian School
64-31 Perry Avenue, Maspeth, NY.
Folk music and dance group “Levindra” was founded in 1984. Initially it
consisted of 16 people, mostly elderly. Later on the group was joint by
young teachers, high school students and their parents, interested in the
cultural heritage of their ancestors. At the moment, the group consists of
28 members. Twenty of them are high school teachers, and the rest are
students and their parents.
The members of the group have already made a good piece of work – they
visited elderly people of the region and gathered old Lithuanian folk songs,
learned about traditional dances and traditions. At the moment there are
recorded more than 350 old songs, 60 kinds of traditional merry-go-rounds,
many traditional tales, legends, customs. “Levindra” also has a video
archive of folk heritage and has published several books with local tales,
legends and stories. “Levindra” is also known in the region because of its
social activities, integrating unemployed, poor persons and children from
problematic families into cultural life, widely discussing problems of
education, gender rights, conflicts in family.
To spread the local traditional heritage, the group has organized several
seminars, teaching people traditional crafts – weaving, embroidery, making
garlands etc. “Levindra” also communicates Lithuanian traditional culture
for people abroad, making concerts and meetings in other countries. In 20
years of its existence, “Levindra” has given more than 280 concerts. It took
part in many Lithuanian song and dance festivals, various contests and
competitions, international events.
The group has performed in Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Poland,
Estonia, Latvia, Belarus.
In 2000 it has taken part in XI Dance Festival of World Lithuanians in
Toronto, Canada.
In 2001 “Levindra” has visited Italy with its concert program.
In 2003 the group visited Norway and presented Lithuanian traditional
cultural heritage for Norwegian people. As well learned the traditions and
culture of Northern countries
In 2006 folk-group performed their concert in nearby Zurich during meeting
with Swiss Lithuanian Community members.
The concert program of “Levindra” in the U.S. “Let’s Open Dowry-box“
includes traditional and ritual Lithuanian music and dances from Utena and
Upper land region, and lasts approximately one hour.
 The
best graphic artists from Lithuania in Nyack, NY
October 6 - 23, 2007 Art
Gallery „Something Uniexpected“ in Nyak, NY presents an exhibition
"About Life – Simply".
The best
graphic
artists from Lithuania
Irma Balakauskaitė, Tania Diščenko, Lida Dubauskienė, Kęstutis Grigaliūnas,
Danutė Gražienė, Eglė Kuckaitė, Ilona Kukenytė, Jūratė Rekevičiūtė, Laisvydė Šalčiūtė, Nijolė Šaltėnytė, Eglė Vartelkaitė, Birutė Zokaitytė, Neringa Žukauskaitė, Eglė Babilaitė.
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Sunday 12pm - 5pm.
The Gallery is located on the West Bank of the Hudson
25
miles North of New York City.
Address:
Art Gallery
„Something Unexpected“
152 Main Street
Nyack, NY10960
Tel. (845) 358-1196
www.something-unexpected.com
 Lithuanian violinist Martynas Svegzda von Bekker
New York debut
On September 6, 2007 the Consulate General and the Lithuanian American Community of Manhattan
organized the New York debut of
Lithuanian violinist
Martynas Švėgžda von Bekker
at the
Church of the Ascension,
Fifth Ave and 10th Street
New York, N.Y. 10011.
Martynas Švėgžda von Bekker performed the following program: Ciaccona by J.S. Bach, Sonate Nr. 6 by
E. Ysaye, Variations to Irish song "The Last Rose of Summer" by H. W. Ernst and Balade by M. Svegzda von Bekker.
Born in 1967, Martynas Svegzda von Bekker began playing the violin at age five with his grandmother, E. Strazdas Bekeriene, former pupil of L. Auer and J. Thibaud. Two years later, he gave his first solo recital and at eleven years of age his first concert appearance with the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 he entered the Lithuanian Conservatory of Music where he studied under professor R. Katilius and with Igor Besrodny in Moscow. He further pursued his studies at the Hochschule fur Music in Hamburg, where he was a student and then assistant of Mark Lubotsky.
In 1990 Martynas Svegzda vok Bekker was awarded the third prize at the International Brahms Competition Hamburg. From 1991 to 1995 he played and recorded with the piano trio Coloris. It was during this period that he won First Prizes at the Elyse Meyer Competition and Hausmann Chamber Music Competition.
Since the early 90s he has performed throughout Scandinavian and Baltic countries, France, Germany, Switzerland and Russia with numerous orchestras, such as the Berliner Symphoniker under the direction of Hans Dieter Baum, the Georgian Philharmonic, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Lithuanian Philharmonic, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra.
In 1993 he performed the German premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s violin concerto with the Hamburg Symphoniker. The event was recorded by German Radio.
Martynas Svegzda von Bekker is a full-time violin Professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. He has collaborated with his Master classes at the Magister Musicae project. Martynas is the artistic director of the Alternatyva Music Festival in Lithuania.
 Ganelin
Trio Priority
played
in New York
On Saturday, 23 June 2007, at 7.30pm Ganelin Trio
Priority (Vyacheslav Ganelin, Petras Vyšniauskas, Klaus Kugel) played in New York.
Vision Festival XII (A Dozen Years Of Visionary Music, Dance, Spoken Word,
Film And Visual Art .
Angel Orensanz Foundation, 172 Norfolk Street, New York, NY.
www.visionfestival.org.
 Art
exhibit of Jurate
Stauskaite in New York
On May 4,
2007 m. the art exhibit of
Jurate Stauskaite was
opened in the Consulate General.
Jurate Stauskaite is author of more than 20 personali art exhibits in
Lithuania and abroad. In 1991 she has established and is in charge of the
first Lithuanian private art school – Vilnius Children and Youth Art
School.
 Meeting
with Gediminas Lankauskas
On
April 12, 2007
the Consulate General,
Club "Niujorkiečiai
šalia mūsų" and American Lithuanian Community Manhattan Chapter hosted a meeting with
Dr. Gediminas Lankauskas who delivered a lecture
about multi-layer reflections on the socialist past in the Grutas
Sculpture Park in Lithuania.
Also, a screening of a film by Dr. Romas Vaštokas and Ona
Volungevičiūtė "Štai ir mes" (2006) took place.
 Second Lithuanian Film Festival in New
York
On
April 15, 2007
Amberwings Productions together with the Consulate General of Lithuania in New York
sponsored a Second Lithuanian Film Festival at Kaufman Astoria Studios.
The New York Premiere of two Lithuanian films
took place:
-
 “Dieviškoji šviesa”
(“Divine Light”), 45 min., a documentary by the
director
Gytis Lukšas about
the life of the late stained glass artist Albinas Elskus. The film
was shot in 2006.
-
“Aš esi tu”
(“You am I”), 90 min., Kristijonas Vildziunas’ modern
love story, beautifully shot in Lithuania in 2006 - a
film of hope, dreams and enchantment.
 Soprano Skaidra Jančaitė
and pianist Edvinas Minkštimas performed
in Elizabeth
On
Sunday, April 15, 2007
soprano Skaidra Jančaitė ir pianist Edvinas Minkštimas performed in a special after-Easter
concert at St .Peter
and Paul Parish Hall in
Elizabeth.
The concert featured classical and contemporary
music and pieces by Lithuanian composers.
Soprano Skaidra Jančaitė
Skaidra graduated from Lithuanian Academy of Music, attended master-classes in Denmark, Austria and France. She participates in contemporary and experimental musical performances, concerts, festivals in Lithuania and Europe; her repertoire is unusually broad - baroque, classical, romantic, contemporary.
Pianist Edvinas Minkšimas
Edvinas graduated from Juozas Naujalis Music School. He studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP). He completed a Master of Music (M.M.) in piano at the Juilliard School of Music and Drama in New York and currently pursues his doctoral degree in Julliard. Edvinas has performed continuously with all the major Lithuanian symphony orchestras under the baton of Lithuanian and foreign conductors. He has won three international piano competitions, including the "European Piano Days" in Pontoise, France and "Music Without Limits" competitions in Lithuania in 2002 and 2003.
In addition to performing, Mr. Minkstimas is an accomplished composer of numerous works, including a fantasy on Bizet’s “Carmen,” a song cycle, and piano etudes.
 Meeting
with opera singer Violeta Urmana
On April 5, 2007
the Consulate General,
Club "Niujorkiečiai
šalia mūsų", American Lithuanian Community Manhattan Chapter,
hosted a meeting with Lithuanian opera singer Violeta Urmana.
Violeta Urmana shared her
experiences of singing at the world-famous stages, told about her opera
career and answered numerous questions of the audience.
The meeting took place at Glucksman Ireland House (NYU) in Manhattan.
Web site of Violeta Urmana:
http://www.violetaurmana.com.
 Lithuanian
theater group Teatriukas performed in Manhattan
On
March 21, 2007 Teatriukas presented a singing poetry performance, featuring poetry by iconic Lithuanian writer Juozas Erlickas and their own music.
Catholic Center at NYU
238 Thompson Street
NYC, phone (212) 674-7236.
 Pianist
Gabrielius Alekna performed in Manahattan
On Sunday, March 18, 2007, Lithuanian pianist Gabrielius Alekna performed at The Piano Salon at Yamaha Artists Services, Inc. The concert featured Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion. Gabrielius was
joined by pianist Ursula Oppens and percussionists Joseph Pereira and Jake Nissly.
Concert also features the Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (with the second piano performing orchestra reduction) and William Bolcom
piano concerto (different performers).
The Piano Salon at Yamaha Artists Services,
Inc., 689 Fifth Avenue (3rd Floor), New York.
On
February 17, 2007,
Bösendorfer New York (at the New York Design
Center)
200 Lexington Avenue
(between 32nd and 33rd Streets)
9th floor, Suite 902
Tel. (212) 684-1956,
www.bosendorfernewyork.com
Program: Claude Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev, Enrique
Granados, and a World Premiere of "Troisieme mot"
by Vytautas Bacevicius.
 Susan
Rankaitis: Limbicwork
February 15 - March 24,
2007
ROBERT MANN GALLERY
210 Eleventh Avenue
(between 24th & 25th Streets)
New York, NY 10001
Phone (212) 989-7600,
mail@robertmann.com,
www.robertmann.com
Hours: Tue-Sat (11am-6pm)
Robert Mann Gallery presented a solo exhibition by Los
Angeles artist Susan Rankaitis entitled Limbicwork from February 15
to March 24, 2007. An opening reception for the artist will be held
on Thursday, February 15 (6-8pm). A catalogue will accompany the
exhibition.
Susan Rankaitis is a mixed-media artist whose works often allude to
ideas in contemporary science. Her most recent photographic works
document her ephemeral installation, Limbicwork, completed in 2005 at
Europos Parkas, the Outdoor Museum of Central Europe in Vilnius,
Lithuania. Suspended in the dense forest, long arcs and loops of
bright plastic tubing represent the components of the limbic system,
part of the brain which influences the formation of memory by
connecting emotion to physical sensation.
By choosing the Vilnius site, Rankaitis also references the persecution of the Lithuanian people by both the Nazis and the Russian Army. Of Lithuanian descent herself, Rankaitis felt a kinship both to the landscape and to the group of young artists with whom she worked to complete the series.
The resulting photographs - ranging from mural-sized prints to images
no larger than a postcard - are the end product of the Limbicwork
installation, and as with the artist's earlier works, they are rich
with layered meaning. As Michael Ned Holte states in his essay in the
show catalogue, the series as a whole might represent "a collective
limbic system, a constellation of connections."
Susan Rankaitis has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego;
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Center for Creative
Photography, Tucson; International Museum of Photography at George
Eastman House, Rochester. Her works are in permanent collections at
the Art Institute of Chicago, MOCA, Princeton University Art Museum,
Stanford University Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Santa Barbara Art Museum.
She received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as well
as from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Avery,
Graves, Djerassi, Borchard, Flintridge, and Mellon Foundations.
Rankaitis has also completed interdisciplinary collaborative projects
with biologist Robert Sinsheimer, neuroscientist David Somers, dancer/
choreographer John Pennington and the late writer Paul Monette.
 Edmundas
Seilius (tenor) and Edvinas Minkstimas (piano)
Amberwings Productions presented in concert for
the first time: Edmundas Seilius (tenor) and Edvinas Minkstimas (piano)
on February 18, 2007, Sunday, at 1 pm
Annunciation R.C. Church Hall
70 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn, New York 11211.
Program: Works by Gruodis, Dvarionas, Petrauskas,
Bellini.
The proceeds from the concert were donated to
the Lithuanian National Foundation.
PAST CULTURAL EVENTS - 2006
 Presentantation
of a photoalbum "Portraits" by
Vytautas Mazelis
On December 15, 2006
a presentation of a photoalbum by photographer Vytautas
Mazelis (born
1914) was organized at the Consulate General.
At the presentation spoke the
Consul General Mindaugas Butkus, professor Stasys Gostautas,
publisher and sponsor Renata Alinskiene.
The photoalbum by Vytautas
Mazelis contains over 60 photographs of outstanding members
of expatriate Lithuanian community.
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 Films
of Lithuanian director Gytis
Lukšas
On November 12, 2006,
the Consulate General and
"Amberwings Productions" presented films of Lithuanian
director
Gytis Lukšas.
Kaufmann Studios 36-45 37th Street
Astoria, NY 11106.
Program:
• Introduction by G.Lukšas and screening of
the film "The
Oaks Fell“ ("Virto ąžuolai”,
1976, duration 1:28)
• 3 pm - Screening
of the film "The
Gaze of the Grass Snake" (“Žalčio
žvilgsnis”, 1990, duration 1:39)
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|
 Veronika
Povilioniene and Folk Group "Blezdinga"
On October 19, 2006, at 8.30 pm
- concert of Lithuanian folk singer Veronika Povilioniene and folk group "Blezdinga"
as part of the New York Festival "European Dream
2006".
Thalia
Theatre at Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY
10025-6990.
Tel. (212) 864-5400,
http://www.symphonyspace.org,
http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org
See
"The New York Times"
review of October 21, 2006.
|
 Lithuania
participates in the Festival "European Dream 2006" in New York
September 19 - October 31,
2006 - European Art Festival "European Dream 2006".
September 19, 2006,
at 7pm "The Invisible Symposium".
Actors present reflection of European intelectuals on Europe.
Lithuania was represented by philosopher Leonidas Donskis.
The New York Public Library
Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018
Tel. (212) 869-8089, http://www.nypl.org
October 19, 2006 at
8.30 pm - concert of Veronika Povilioniene
and folk group "Blezdinga".
|
 Concert
of I.Jakubaviciute and E.Orlinyte
On June 11, 2006
Consulate General of Lithuania and New York Chapter of the
Lithuanian Community arranged a concert on the occasion the Lithuanian
Statehood Day (Day of Coronation of Lithuanian King Mindaugas). Classical music was played by
Lithuanian-American performers Ieva Jakubaviciute (piano)
and Edita Orlinyte (violin).
|
 Lithuanian
- US Photography Exhibit
"Vanishing Boundaries"
June 25 - July 1, 2006
Lithuanian - US Photography Exhibit with participation of Lithuanian
photographers Alvydas Lukys, Remigijus Treigys, Gintautas Trimakas.
Nailya
Alexander Gallery
24 West 57th Street #503,
New York, NY 10019,
phone (212) 315-2211.
More information: invitation. |
 New
Video, New Europe
May 31 - June 30, 2006
Video productions from
16 European
countries,
with participation of Lithuanian
representatives
Arturas Raila
and Egle Rakauskaite
The
Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011.www.thekitchen.org.
|
 Exhibit of paintings by Jonas Balciunas
and Vaidilute Vidugiryte
May 18 - June 4, 2006
Exhibit of paintings by Jonas Balciunas
and Vaidilute Vidugiryte at Mimi Ferzt Gallery, 114 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012,
phone (212) 343-9377, www.mimiferzt.com.
|
 Exhibit
of Graphics by Neringa Zukauskaite
On April 7, 2006,
an exhibit of graphics by Lithuanian artist Neringa Zukauskaite
(born 1975) was opened at the
Consulate General of Lithuania in New York.
|
 Exhibit
of Paintings by Tadas
Gutauskas
On March 3, 2006 an exhibit of paintings by Lithuanian artist Tadas Gutauskas was opened
at the Consulate General of Lithuania in New York. |
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