CELEBRATED CONCERT PIANIST GABRIELIUS ALEKNA PERFORMed IN TORONTO
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the art and life of Lithuania’s renowned composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911), award-winning pianist Gabrielius Alekna performed Čiurlionis’ (Choor-LOH-niss) works on October 17 evening in Toronto during his sole appearance in Canada.
The concert, sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Canada and produced by the Lithuanian Canadian Community, marked the conclusion of events associated with the commemoration of the Čiurlionis centennial in Canada, also the end of a national Canadian-Lithuanian strategic planning session in Toronto that day. A documentary exhibition of Čiurlionis‘ artworks was held earlier this year in Mississauga.
Gabrielius Alekna is one of the world’s most accomplished interpreters of M.K. Čiurlionis’ unique late-Romantic compositions. His performance in Toronto is part of a North American concert tour, which includes Washington D.C. (9/24), Philadelphia (9/25), Atlanta (10/1), Orlando (10/2), St Petersburg, (10/09), Detroit (10/16), Cleveland (10/22), New Haven (10/29) and Boston (10/30).
GABRIELIUS ALEKNA took second place at the 2005 International
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Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, Austria. He has appeared as a soloist in Vienna’s Musikverein with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO Wien) under the baton of Bertrand de Billy; been featured as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra in New York and with the Belarus State Symphony Orchestra in Minsk. In his native country of Lithuania, Mr. Alekna appears regularly with the National Symphony, the State Symphony, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and the Christopher Chamber Orchestra. Daniel Barenboim called him “a highly gifted pianist and musician.” Mr. Alekna has garnered more than a dozen top prizes in competitions on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Hilton Head (United States), Maria Canals (Spain), and Čiurlionis (Lithuania) International Piano Competitions. His forthcoming recording of complete Mots (Toccata Classics) by the Lithuanian composer Vytautas Bacevičius, was done in collaboration with the two-time Grammy winning producer Judith Sherman and the three-time Grammy-nominated pianist Ursula Oppens.
