Spiegel im Spiegel

One of the most prominent pianists of the younger generation in Lithuania, Onutė Gražinytė, returns to the stage of the Arvo Pärt Centre, this time performing alongside her ensemble partner, cellist Edward King. Curated and recorded in celebration of Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, Spiegel im Spiegel unfolds as a meditation on polarity: humanity and divinity, light and darkness, sound and silence.

The programme is framed by two movements from Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, highlighting a central duality. It opens with the Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus, music that arises from divine utterance: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It closes with the Louange à l’Immortalité de Jésus, contemplating Jesus, the Word made flesh. Though only two of Pärt’s own works appear, each piece reflects part of his artistic constellation: Messiaen’s radiant spirituality, Bach’s architectural symmetry, Schnittke’s probing dualities, and Cage’s charged silence. Structured as a palindrome—a mirror within the mirror—the programme circles back on itself, allowing one, through juxtaposition, to reflect on the mastery of Arvo Pärt.

Since 2015, O. Gražinytė has studied piano under the tutelage of Roland Krüger at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. She is a scholarship student of Yehudi Menuhin Foundation “Live Music Now” Hannover. As a soloist, O. Gražinytė has appeared with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Art Orchestra, Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra, Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, Alicante University Philharmonic Orchestra, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and National Orchestra of Lyon, and has given recitals in Lithuania, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, France and Denmark, including renowned concert halls such as Warsaw Philharmonie as well as Berlin Konzerthaus. In 2015, the President of the Republic of Lithuania acknowledged O. Gražinytė for her musical achievements in national and international competitions.

German-based musician and pedagogue Edward King was appointed as Professor of Violoncello at the Leopold Mozart College of Music at the University of Augsburg in 2023. Originally hailing from New Zealand, he swiftly gained recognition in Europe due to his successes at the XI Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition and the International Cello Competition in Markneukichen. At the International Krzysztof Penderecki Cello Competition, he was honoured with a special prize by Penderecki himself for his exceptional interpretation of Penderecki’s Divertimento. Edward is a member of the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, as well as a founding member of hear now berlin, a sextet devoted to post-genre contemporary music. He also enjoys a particularly deep musical collaboration with his wife Onutė Gražinytė as part of the Gražinytė-King Duo. Edward plays on a modern German cello, made by Robert König in 2017.

Kava:

Olivier Messiaen
– “Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus” from the “Quartet for the End of Time”

Arvo Pärt
– Fratres

J. S. Bach
– Gamba Sonata in G major, BWV 1027

John Cage
– 4’33’’

Alfred Schnittke
– Cello Sonata No. 1

Arvo Pärt
– Spiegel im Spiegel

Olivier Messiaen
– “Louange à l’Immortalité de Jésus” from the “Quartet for the End of Time”