The Music Shell (2022)
The Music Shell (2022)
This multimedia work is an homage to the vibrant cultural life of the Jewish community in Kaunas before WW2. The live performance of Rūta’s original score, historical film footage, and Aimee’s artwork blend together to evoke the cultural and café scene of the city. The piece features interviews with members of the community by Daiva Citvarienė, curator of the Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022. The project is both a joyful recovery of a vanished world and a reminder of the Holocaust, which completely erased the flourishing Jewish community of Kaunas. On October 2021, Chromatikon had the world premiere of the first, shorter version of ‘The Music Shell’ at the Lithuanian Embassy in London as part of the ‘Litvak Days’ Conference. In September 2022, ‘The Music Shell’ toured across the Lithuania as part of Kaunas – Capital of Culture 2022, was featured on Lithuanian National Radio, Kaunas City TV, and recorded by the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre for their future publication.
Duration: 30min. (short version) or 60min. (full version), 120min. (full version and Yiddish song concert with short interval)
Format: concert (live instruments and backing track) accompanied by video projection and artworks exhibition
Performers: 5 – trio (clarinet, violoncello, piano), baritone, narrator
