Lithuanian artist and composer Mikalojus Konstatinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) could hear sound in colors and images and vice versa due to a special neurological condition, synesthesia. It laid the foundation for his dual talent; Čiurlionis is today considered the most important painter and composer Lithuania has produced. At Oranjewoud Festival you can enjoy both exponents of his artistry. On this page you will find an overview.
Museum Belvédère is the first museum in the Netherlands to dedicate an exhibition to the work of M.K. Čiurlionis. To this day, he is considered a national icon of Lithuania. Art historians mention his name in the same breath as that of contemporaries such as Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky.
Although Čiurlionis's work remained virtually unknown in the West during the years when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, in recent decades many major museums around the world have devoted exhibitions to him. The emphasis of the exhibition at Museum Belvédère is on Čiurlionis' later works, painted with tempera paint, in which he finds a symbiosis between visual art and music in his completely unique symbolist style.
Instead of reality - as we (re)know it - Čiurlionis' work depicts another world; that of myths, sagas, fairy tales and visions. Nature was his muse and he drew his inspiration from Lithuanian sagas, legends and folk beliefs as well as non-Western cultures ranging from Ancient Egyptian, Indian to Asian. This depiction of unprecedented representations and worlds runs like a thread through his work. The exhibition will feature about 70 tempera paintings by his hand, in which secrets are evoked and the earthly world is linked to the supernatural.
Čiurlionis' music embodies the core of Lithuanian professional music. It has served as the foundation of 20th century Lithuanian musical culture. In a short creative period of just over a decade, Čiurlionis' music evolved from traditional romanticism to compositions that foreshadowed modern atonal music. Presumably he made his first compositional attempts in Plungė, where he studied and played in the orchestra at the estate of Prince M. Oginski. However, it was in Warsaw that he took up composition with serious intentions, where he studied composition and orchestration with Z. Noskowski since 1897. Before graduating from the Warsaw Institute of Music in June 1899, Čiurlionis had composed a number of pieces, canons, fugues, variations and two sonatas for piano, sonata for violin and piano (not preserved), variations for string quartet, fugues for choir, while his graduation work was the cantata De Profundis for mixed choir and symphony orchestra.
String Quartets
The Vilnius String Quartet released Čiurlionis' complete string quartet oeuvre on CD. At the festival's invitation, the renowned quartet is coming to the Netherlands especially to perform some of the celebrated composer's works: Čiurlionis' String Quartet in c minor from 1901 and his "Theme and Variations" in b minor. On Friday morning, the ensemble will give some previews at the museum. In the evening, the musicians can be heard in the Comfort Zone.
Piano music
Rokas Zubovas is both a pianist and the great-grandson of Čiurlionis, the most important composer and artist Lithuania has produced. No wonder Rokas has made it his life's work to study the life and work of his great-grandfather. During this lecture-recital, Zubovas will take you, the listener, through the musical life and paintings of Čiurlionis, interspersed with renditions of the most important piano works from the Lithuanian artist-composer's oeuvre.
The first major Čiurlionis exhibition in the Netherlands is now on view at Museum Belvédère through June 9. Opening hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information can be found at www.museumbelvedere.nl.
Combine your visit to Čiurlionis' exhibition with a short performance by the Vilnius String Quartet. Selections from the entire string quartet oeuvre of Čiurlionis they will play in the museum. In this way, you will hear and see how the worlds of music and painting united in the mind of Čiurlionis. These mini performances will take place on Friday, May 31 between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. and are part of Expedition Friday.
This concert is one of the highlights of the collaboration between Oranjewoud Festival and Museum Belvédèr. Despite his short life, Čiurlionis left behind a large oeuvre of about 300 pieces of music and as many paintings. For Čiurlionis, both arts were of great influence on each other. His synesthesia allowed him to hear sound in colors and images. He imagined "the whole world as a great symphony" and applied the principles of musical composition to his painting. He painted repetitions of motifs; his lines followed a melodic rhythm. Conversely, he composed harmonies through the colors he saw.
Lecture recital in which Zobovas plays and composer Efthimiou narrates.
'This was a most enlightening lecture-recital in ages. Zubovas performed beautiful melodic lines and virtuosic passages with amazing ease."
Piano Teachers Congress News, New York
'Pianist Rokas Zubovas recreates the majestic, mysterious yet intimate world of Čiurlionis with great expression and mastery. One cannot help but fall in love with Čiurlionis as a composer.'
Draugas, Chicago
Combine your visit to Čiurlionis' exhibition with a short performance by Lithuanian pianist Rokas Zobovas, the artist's great-grandson. At certain times, his wife Sonata Zubovienė joins him for four-handed playing. The duo can be heard at Museum Belvédère on Saturday, June 1, between 10:15 and 12:00 and on Sunday, June 2, spread throughout the day between 10:30 and 16:45. Their presentations are part of Expedition Saturday and Expedition Sunday.
M. K. Čiurlionio etiudai su pianistu Roku Zubovu XXX [ENG SUB]. 
Short film "Čiurlionis inspires" Receive news from Oranjewoud Festival in your mail?
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Oranjewoud Festival is a low-threshold, versatile and stimulating music festival in the fairytale parkland of Oranjewoud near Heerenveen (Friesland) | June 12 to 15, 2025
