“Cabaret Songs”

We invite you to spend a January afternoon immersed in cabaret songs! At Paliesius Manor, Viktoras Gerulaitis will present a concert where soprano Jūratė Rudžianskaitė and pianist Eglė Perkumaitė will masterfully perform the cabaret songs of William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein.

The cabaret song is a widely recognized genre of popular music in Western culture. Though jazz and poetry had long echoed through bars, this was not yet cabaret. In taverns and street theaters, musical plays were born from the lives of ordinary people, capturing the news of the day in song. The music of cabaret revealed a kaleidoscope of human moods, experiences, feelings, and emotions: love and hate, joy and pain, irony and sarcasm—all seamlessly interwoven with daily life and its unfolding events. Cabaret reflects the ideas of various eras, capturing the contemporary spirit and its struggles, making it deeply relatable and resonant to all.

Cabaret songs truly flourished in the 20th century, drawing the pen of renowned composers such as Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, and others. Soon, cabaret forged its way across America. The theatrical productions of the era utilized abstract compositions rooted in the everyday vignettes so characteristic of cabaret. Even today, the cabaret song is distinguished by its political rhetoric and a clear, simple form; even within its love songs, one can sense a subtle undertone of irony and complicity.

Composer W. Bolcom has a penchant for breaking the artificial boundary between popular and serious music, seamlessly blending distinct styles within his works. An exceptional pianist himself, the composer, together with his wife Joan Morris, has recorded and performed a vast repertoire of the so-called popular song. In addition to cabaret songs, Bolcom writes for musical theater, and composes symphonies, operas, quartets, instrumental concertos, and vocal cycles. Having begun his artistic career in vaudeville productions, he has harmonized popular and serious music throughout his entire creative journey.

“Twelve Cabaret Songs” (1977–1983) were written in collaboration with writer Arnold Weinstein, who remarked upon them: “We wrote these as cabaret songs, without a thought to their artistic merit. The stage is the piano, and the cast is the singer.” These songs stand out for their distinctive style, as well as their multifaceted and complex performance techniques, making them deeply captivating for the listener.

As performers, we were inspired to prepare these songs by the composer’s unique style, the intriguing means of musical expression, their programmatic nature, and their vivid lyrics—deeply intertwined with the music and highly relevant to the present day. We hope these captivating and highly listenable cabaret songs by W. Bolcom and A. Weinstein will intrigue the audience and touch their hearts.

Jūratė Rudžianskaitė studied the English language at Vilnius University from 1981 to 1983, and solo singing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre from 1985 to 1991 in the classes of lecturers O. Čiulnova, G. Apanavičiūtė, and J. Kepenienė. She has also participated in masterclasses led by L. Šukytė (Austria).

From 1991 to 1993, she worked as a singing instructor for the Vilnius University girls’ choir “Virgo.” The singer has prepared a broad repertoire of music by German, Spanish, French, American, and Lithuanian composers. In 1994 and 1995, together with pianist R. Gocentienė, she held concert tours in Italy, and in 1999, she participated in an international vocal competition in Paris. She frequently performs with pianist E. Perkumaitė and has sung on numerous occasions with musical theater master and singer John Staniunas (USA).

Since 2003, she has worked in the choir of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. At the theater, she has prepared and sung the roles of Annina in G. Verdi’s opera “Traviata”, Countess Ceprano in G. Verdi’s opera “Rigoletas”, Malvina in J. Gaižauskas’s opera “Buratinas”, Olga in F. Lehár’s operetta “Linksmoji našlė”, a devout woman in B. Dvarionas’s opera “Dalia”, and the Cousin and Kate Pinkerton in G. Puccini’s opera “Madam Butterfly”.

J. Rudžianskaitė has performed in France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Spain. A considerable number of works performed by the singer have been recorded for Lithuanian Radio.

Eglė Perkumaitė began her concert career while still at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art, where she became the first-prize winner of the international piano competition “Usti nad Labem” (Czech Republic) and a laureate of national competitions. From 1977–1982, she studied at the Moscow P. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Prof. T. Nikolayeva. From 1993–1995, the pianist completed a two-year postgraduate residency with pianist A. Dvarionaitė at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. In 1995, E. Perkumaitė pursued further studies at the Mozarteum summer courses in Salzburg with Prof. G. Mounier.

The pianist has performed as a soloist with the Lithuanian Chamber and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestras, prepared recitals and chamber music evenings, and accompanied singers I. Milkevičiūtė, V. Noreika, D. Sadauskas, I. Misiūra, N. Katilienė, D. Puišys, J. Rudžianskaitė, J. Staniunas (USA), and Stein Skjervold (Norway), as well as instrumentalists L. Šulskutė, R. Butvila, A. Stulgys, A. Paukštė, R. Romoslauskas, B. Traubas, and others. She has performed in the Netherlands, the Philippines, Malaysia, Austria, the USA, Finland, Estonia, and elsewhere. Over her more than forty years of creative work, she has organized around 900 various concerts and has participated as an accompanist in international vocal competitions.

In 1996–1997 and 2005–2006, she received a Fulbright scholarship and conducted scientific research and creative work at the Universities of Miami and Kansas (USA). In 2001, she worked as an accompanist at international summer courses for singers and pianists in Salzburg (Austria). In 2008–2009, she was invited to the University of Kansas (USA) as an accompanist-tutor for a production of K. Weill’s opera “Gatvės scena” to work with New York director Tazewell Thompson and conductor David Neely. In 2010, she played live in the play “Mirtinas bučinys” (directed by John Staniunas, USA) based on Douglas J. Cohen’s musical “No way to treat a lady” at the Elfų Theater. In 2011, she worked as an accompanist at the international masterclass-competition Klaipėda-Boston. She has given masterclasses at the Tampere Conservatory (Finland), the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece), and elsewhere. A considerable number of her piano and chamber music recordings are held in the archives of Lithuanian Radio and Television, and she has recorded two solo vinyl records (1981 and 1986) and the CDs “Amerikiečių vokalinė kamerinė muzika” (2008), “Sergej Rachmaninov Romansai” (2014), “Kaleidoscope. 24 pieces characteristic for violin and piano” (2016), and “Forgotten Lithuanian songs and arias” (2016).

Since 1982, she has been teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and since 1987, she has worked in the Accompaniment Department, where she was granted the title of Associate Professor of Arts in 1998, and has served as a Professor since 2021.