Double gold for the Lithuanian choir at the Primate’s Palace in Bratislava – Alkas.lt

On March 27, in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, the international choral music competition “Bratislava Spring Music Festival” ended.

In the historic Hall of Mirrors of the Primate’s Palace, the Vilnius mixed choir “Sonoros”, conducted by Valerija Skapienė, performed particularly successfully – bringing home two gold diplomas to Lithuania.

In the competition in the historic Hall of Mirrors of the Primate’s Palace, where Napoleon in 1805 signed the Peace Treaty of Pressburg, choirs from six European countries competed in different music genres and age categories.

Choir “Sonoras” prepared two programs for the competition, which they performed in the category of adult choirs and in the category of folk music with accompaniment.

“Preparing choirs is always a big challenge for contestants – trends in choral music are constantly changing,” said choir conductor Valerija Skapienė.

– “In international competitions, we want to present as much Lithuanian music as possible, it is important that it is diverse, and most importantly, that it is interesting for the choir itself.”

In the competition, “Sonoros” performed the music of Lithuanian authors Vytautas Miškinis, Zita Bružaitė, Jonas Tamulionis, Gintautas Venislovas, and the highlight of the program, according to the conductor, was the impressive piece “Indodana” by South African composers Michael Barrett and Ralph Schmitt.

“This work is strong not only in a technical sense (the chorus is divided into nine parts), but also in an emotional sense,” said V. Skapienė. – The music that tells the story of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son has a large dynamic scale, contains a lot of pain and a lot of hope.

The choir needed a lot of preparation to perform it. I’m glad that the effort paid off and we came out strong. High musical quality is expected from the choirs of the Baltic countries in such competitions – choral music professionals know well how rich our singing tradition is.”

The Vilnius mixed choir “Sonoros”, which is currently celebrating its seven-year birthday, not only performed successfully in the competition, but also held a concert in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

The choir performed a program of Lithuanian songs in one of the most visited European tourist spots. In Bratislava, Sonoros performed at the Bratislava Spring Music Festival concerts in the Primate’s Palace and Klarisky Concert Hall.