AN EVENING TALE FOR ADULTS or the love story of the beautiful Magelona and the Count of Provence Peter

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Artists
GIEDRIUS PRUNSKUS (baritone)
VYTAUTAS RUMŠAS senior (reader)
JONE PUNYTĖ-SVIGAIRIENĖ (piano)
Puppet animation author BARBARA STEINITZ (Germany)

Program:
Johannes Brahms – vocal cycle "Magellan", op. 33

Pažaislis Music Festival invites listeners to listen to an evening fairy tale for adults – the rarely heard in Lithuania vocal cycle "Magelonė", Op. 33 by Johannes Brahms, based on a medieval knight's tale, will be performed! The work will be brought to life by an international team of four talented performers – baritone Giedrius Prunskus, pianist Jonė Punytė-Svigarienė, reader Vytautas Rumšas the Elder and illustrator Barbara Steinitz.
This concert is an original presentation of a unique and one of the most mature vocal cycles in the entire history of the Lied genre to the audience, integrating the songs of the cycle into a fairy tale explaining the plot. The fifteen-song vocal cycle “Magelonė”, op. 33 by J. Brahms, based on the verses of the 18th century German writer Ludwig Tieck, is extremely rarely performed in Lithuania. The fairy tale written by the same author is a reworking of a knightly novel by an unknown French author from the 15th century. The text of the medieval knightly tale read during the concert naturally explains the logical course of the cycle to the listener, creates a romantic atmosphere full of symbols typical of those times, and upon reaching a certain emotional state of the lyrical hero, the reading is changed by J. Brahms’s songs, which further highlight the scale of feelings rapidly changing in the cycle. The tale tells the love story of Count Peter of Provence and the beautiful Princess Magelone of Naples, telling about the birth of love, its flaming, the pain of separation, moments of loss, lost hopes and an all-enlightening meeting. The tale is read in Lithuanian, sung in German. As the songs are played, slides are shown on the screen, synchronously presenting an illustrated translation of the lyrics into Lithuanian, and the following tale is accompanied by a filmed paper puppet theater animation created by German artist Barbara Steinitz.
The performers of the vocal cycle are well-known Lithuanian musicians. They both studied the subtleties of the Lied genre in the genre's homeland - Germany. Doctor of Arts, pianist J. Punytė-Svigarienė studied the song genre in Stuttgart, and licentiate of arts, baritone G. Prunskus - in Leipzig. The creative path of this duo, which has lasted for almost two decades, is marked by bright Lied genre projects: "Woman, Music and Nietzsche", "Under the Star of David", etc.
The actor reading the text of the fairy tale, V. Rumšas the Elder, is widely known to the Lithuanian public. His roles in theater, cinema, and television series speak for themselves. His voice, full of extraordinary expressiveness and artistic expression, is immediately recognizable and identifiable.
Berlin-based illustrator B. Steinitz studied communication design and illustration in Saarbrücken and Barcelona. Inspired by puppetry, she creates etudes with live music in collaboration with various performers, which have received worldwide recognition. Her illustrated books, published by renowned publishers, have won numerous awards. The paper puppetry scenes for the vocal cycle "Magelone" with the participation of tenor Ralph Peter and pianist Thomas Layes were first shown at the 2019 Saarbrücker Sommermusik Festival.