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On November 29th the concert “The Lithuanians and the Classics” took place in Raanana, during which the pieces of Juozas Gruodis and Ričardas Biveinis were performed for the first time in Israel.

This concert opened the fourth season of “Zlilim”  – the chamber concerts series at the Open University of Israel. The sponsor and the initiator of the first concert is the Embassy of Lithuania in Israel, which proposed to the University the idea to introduce Lithuanian music to Israeli audience.

The violinist Prof. Raimondas Butvila (Lithuania) and the pianist, musicologist Dr. Zecharia Plavin (Israel) performed sonatas for piano and violin of the Lithuanian classic composer J. Gruodis and Lithuanian contemporary composer R. Biveinis. Both players were born and grew up in Lithuania. Prof. R. Butvila is current Head of Colegio Emil Friedman Conservatory at Karakas University in Venezuela, and Dr. Z. Plavin is a musicologist and a faculty member of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Both masters are participants and prizewinners of numerous international contests.

Prof. Gershon Ben-Shakhar, the President of the Open University of Israel and Mrs. Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė, Ambassador of Lithuania in Israel cordially greeted the abundant audience – representatives of Israeli government, culture and academic institutions, journalists, accredited diplomatic corps and litvaks.

Prof. R. Butvila and Dr. Z. Plavin delivered an impressive lecture before the concert – “From Čiurlionis to the Sounds of the Second Independence: Historical overview of concert music in Lithuania in the 20th and 21st centuries”. Sonatas for piano and violin by Ludwig van Bethoven and Johannes Brahms were be performed along with the Lithuanian pieces. Ripples of applause went round the hall after every sonata, the one composed by J. Gruodis in particular.  “Meditation” from the opera “Thais” by Jules Massenet was the response of the virtuosi and the final finishing touch to the unforgettable evening.