BRUXELLES: Kasparas Uinskas opening of Bruxelles Piano Festival Tuesday 1st October in the beautiful Gothic Hall at the old City Hall at the Grand Square in Bruxelles became a success.

Kasparas Uinskas after having opened Bruxelles Piano Festival 2013 at Bruxelles City Hall – Gothic Hall, 1
. October 2013. Foto: Henning Høholt

Review and photos by Henning Høholt

The Mayor of Bruxelles opened it all in and a nearly full Gothic Hall,  then Kasparas Uinskas entered the hall and opened the Festival, which will go on for all October month in the City Hall
. Uinskas has choosen a romantic repertoire for the opening concert, a good choice that the audience appreciated, which suites well to mr. Uinskas temperament and artistic flair.  In the first part of his concert he presented works by Fredéric Chopin, (1810-1849) Nocturne op 27 no.1, followed by his demanding 12 Etudes op 25

. Beautiful, romantic, powerful, dramatic, nuance and sensitivity very well formed, underlined details, keeping the great lines, the tempi, and, still having time to colour the different parts emotionally, so we got an understanding of the different ideas in the 12 Etudes, which are masterpieces, and here in Bruxelles was playd by a master
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After the break Uinskas continued in a way contrasting to Chopin, with 4 deliciouse pieces by Claude Debussy. (1862-1918)  “Et la lune descend sur la temple qui fut”. “Ondine”, “Reflets dans l´eau”, and ending up with “Clair de Lune”. A good combination after Chopin.

The recital was ended with Sergei Rachmaninovs (1873-1943) poverfull Sonate no 2. opus 36.

Ovations from the audience and beautiful flowers from the Lithuanian Embassy were answered with “The Girl with the Linen Hair” by Claude Debussy and “Fantasy Imprompty” by Chopin
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The Republic of Lithuania is this second half year of 2013 the Presidency of EU, This concert was also a part of marking the presidency, which will be followed up with one more concert with Kasparas Uinskas as soloists in Belgium. 1oth October in Haydns Pianoconcerto in D-major with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia conducted by Jean-François Chamberlan at Casino de Chaudfontaine. It is the opening concert of the 2013 festival “Music Source”.

The entire program:

• Félix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy : Extraits de “Lieder ohne Wörte”, arrangement for Strings
• Joseph Haydn : Concerto for piano in D- Major n°11
• Patrick Dheur : Suite concertante for String orchestre
• Félix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy : Symphonie n°7 for Strings.