Born on September 22, 1875, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was a Lithuanian composer, painter, choirmaster and prolific writer, whose works across a range of mediums contributed to the Symbolist and Art Nouveau movements and to furthering an awareness and appreciation of the culture of his native Lithuania.
In addition to his compositional work, he is considered one of the pioneers of abstract art in Europe and a cultural embodiment of the Fin de Siècle epoch. Our Sesquicentennial celebration will include a wide selection of the composer's music for solo piano—and, as his visual art can't be properly displayed on radio, we invite you to check out this article on his visual art from Daily Art. Earlier in the year, the people of Lithuania's capitol, Vilnius, started a grass roots effort with people across the capitol knitting sweaters emblazoned with the likeness of this great figure of culminating with his 150th birthday this week. You can read more about this charming project—and see some of the sweaters—in this article from Norman Lebrecht's Slipped Disc: A Small Country Knits Sweaters for its Great Composer.
We'll close the show with a tribute to one of the great masterworks of the 20th Century, premiered on September 28, 1918: Igor Stravinsky's L'Histiore du Soldat—The Soldier's Tale.
You can hear Sunday on Blue Lake with Foley Schuler every Sunday morning from 9 until noon on Blue Lake Public Radio.
