Vilnius String Quartet

This concert is one of the highlights of the collaboration between Oranjewoud Festival and Museum Belvédère around painter and composer M.K. Čiurlionis (1875-1911). Although this Lithuanian double talent died young, he left behind a large oeuvre of some 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.

Many famous people were struck by Čiurlionis' genius. Stravinsky called him "possibly the most talented member of the Russian School at the beginning of the twentieth century" and bought one of his last paintings. Art historians mention his name in the same breath as contemporaries such as Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky. Čiurlionis is undoubtedly the greatest composer and visual artist Lithuania has ever produced.  

At the invitation of the festival, the renowned Vilnius String Quartet is coming to the Netherlands especially to perform two works by the celebrated composer: Čiurlionis' String Quartet in c minor from 1901 and his 'Theme and Variations' in b minor. Prior to the concert, don't forget to visit Museum Belvédère, which is the first Dutch museum to dedicate an exhibition to this artist.