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

The cabaret song is a rather widespread popular music genre in Western culture. Although jazz and poetry had long echoed in bars, this was not yet cabaret. Taverns and street theaters hosted performances featuring music drawn from the lives of ordinary people, singing of the day’s news. The music of cabaret songs revealed a variety of human moods, experiences, feelings, and emotions: love and hate, joy and pain, irony and sarcasm—everything intertwined with people’s daily experiences and events. Cabaret reflects the ideas of various eras, revealing the spirit and problems of the present day, making it understandable and close to everyone.

Cabaret songs became especially popular in the 20th century. They were written by renowned composers such as Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, and others. Soon, cabaret made its way to America. Theatrical productions of the time utilized abstract composition based on everyday scenes, so characteristic of cabaret. Even today, cabaret songs are characterized by political rhetoric, a clear and simple form, and a slight touch of irony and conspiracy felt even in love songs.

Composer W. Bolcom tends to break the artificial boundary between popular and serious music, combining different styles in his works. An excellent pianist, the author, together with his wife Joan Morris, has recorded and performed a wide repertoire of so-called popular songs. In addition to cabaret songs, Bolcom composes for musical theater, symphonies, operas, quartets, instrumental concertos, and vocal cycles. Having begun his artistic career in vaudeville productions, he has blended popular and serious music throughout his creative path.

“Twelve Cabaret Songs” (1977–1983) were created together with writer Arnold Weinstein, who wrote of them: “We wrote these songs as cabaret songs, without thinking of their artistic value. The stage is a piano, and the cast is a singer.” These songs stand out for their distinctive style and diverse, complex performance technique, appealing to the listener.

Preparing these songs inspired us as performers through the composer’s distinctive style, interesting musical expression, programmatic nature, and vibrant, relevant texts that are very closely tied to the music. We hope that these engaging and easy-to-listen-to cabaret songs by W. Bolcom and A. Weinstein will interest listeners and touch their hearts.

Jūratė Rudžianskaitė studied English 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 also participated in the masterclasses of 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 organized 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 numerous times 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 devotee in B. Dvarionas’s opera “Dalia,” as well as 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 on Lithuanian Radio.

Eglė Perkumaitė began her concert activities while still at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art, where she became the first-prize winner of the “Usti nad Labem” international piano competition (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 internship with pianist A. Dvarionaitė at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. In 1995, E. Perkumaitė attended the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg under Prof. G. Mounier.

The pianist has performed as a soloist with the Lithuanian Chamber and Lithuanian National Orchestras, prepared recitals and chamber music evenings, and accompanied singers such as I. Milkevičiūtė, V. Noreika, D. Sadauskas, I. Misiūra, N. Katilienė, D. Puišys, J. Rudžianskaitė, J. Staniunas (USA), 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 more than forty years of creative work, she has organized around 900 various concerts, and participated in international vocal competitions as a concertmaster.

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 a concertmaster at the international summer courses for singers and pianists in Salzburg (Austria). In 2008–2009, as a concertmaster-repetiteur, she was invited to the University of Kansas (USA) 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 Jonas Staniunas, USA) based on Douglas J. Cohen’s musical “No way to treat a lady” at the Elf Theatre. In 2011, she worked as a concertmaster at the Klaipėda–Boston international masterclasses and competition. She has led masterclasses at the Tampere Conservatory (Finland), the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece), and others. A considerable number of her piano and chamber music recordings are in the Lithuanian Radio and Television archives; she has recorded two solo records (in 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 taught at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and since 1987, she has worked in the Concertmaster Department, where she was granted the title of Associate Professor of Arts in 1998, and has served as a Professor since 2021.