In the concert, the classics sounded like percussion
Every year, the Independence Day and the coming spring in Ukmergė are greeted by the sounds of percussion. This year, the sounds of percussion should have been played for the 16th time at the festival “Percussion Ukmerge 2020”. However, due to the imminent threat of a Coronavirus pandemic, it was decided not to hold the festival. There are only two concerts left.
The first concert was held in the hall of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in Vilnius. Both well-known and less frequent music was played here, and V.A. Mozart’s famous “Rondo Alla Turca” sounded like percussion music.
At the beginning, the audience, who were gingerly gathering for the concert, listened to the music performed by the permanent festival participants Pavel Giunter, Sigitas Gailius, Andrius Rekašius and the guest Andrius Puplauskis, as well as guests from Latvian “Perpetuum Ritmico”, who already played at “Percussion Ukmergė” in 2018. By the end of the concert, the audience was already standing and asking to play an encore.
On 11 March, after the solemn commemoration of the Day of Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence at the monument “Lituania Restituta”, the residents of Ukmergė and the guests of the city gathered at the Culture Center. The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and Guntars Freibergs from Latvia played in the solemn concert. They were conducted by Guntis Kuzma (Latvia). In the second part of the concert, the concert program „Drum & Brass | Giunter Percussion and TRIMITAS” was performed. In this part of the concert, the audience applauded the wind orchestra “Trimitas” (conductor Ugnius Vaiginis) and the percussion ensemble “Giunter Percussion”, conducted by Pavel Giunter.
The concerts were conducted by musicologist Darius Užkuraitis.