With Gabrielė Žemaitytė - piano, Lithuania, Sterre Kooi - mezzo-soprano, Netherlands, Rolfe Dauz - baritone, USA

Wednesday, April 19 th 2023, 19:30 h

at The Italian Institute of Culture in Amsterdam

Keizersgracht 564, Amsterdam

The program includes songs and arias by G. Donizetti and G. Puccini, J. Sibelius, M. Biltzstein, E. Grieg, J. Gaižauskas, H. Duparc and R. Schumann, among others, as well as two freshly written works by young Lithuanian composers J. Šiksnelytė and D. Digimas. Love, dreams, water, stars, sorrow and many other, joyful, romantic elements touch the silence. The inspired and sympathetic interplay of the three internationally working artists Gabrielė Žemaitytė, Sterre Kooi and Rolfe Dauz promises us a sparkling concert!

Filipino-American baritone Rolfe Dauz has garnered international acclaim for his "focused baritone, perfect diction, and dramatic acting” (Calgary Herald). This summer Rolfe will perform recitals curated by internationally acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw at the Tanglewood Music Center and will join Detroit Opera’s 2023/24 Resident Artist Program under the leadership of Christine Goerke and Nathalie Doucet. In the summer of 2022, Rolfe joined the Chautauqua Opera Company, performing roles in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother Of Us All and a contemporary opera by Kamala Sankaram entitled Thumbprint. During the 2021-22 season, Rolfe Dauz performed in Yadi Nursalim Anugerah’s opera Ine Ay’, at the Holland Festival and reprised this role in a touring production through Indonesia. His duo with Gabrielė Žemaitytė was awarded 2nd prize at the 2021 Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition, and he also performed a recital in the Muziekgebouw under the auspices of the Grote Zangers.

Lithuanian pianist Gabriele Žemaitytė took her master’s degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague in the class of Naum Grubert, after she had started her studies at the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art School in Vilnius. Gabrielė performs in various festivals throughout The Netherlands including Kamermuziekfestival in The Hague, Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam and played in venues such as De Doelen and Het Concertgebouw. In 2019 Gabriele toured China, where she performed in more than twenty different theatres. She took master classes with renowned performers such as Dmitry Bashkirov, Stefan Vladar, Armen Babakhanian, David Breitman, Nina Seriogina, Johannes Meissl and Stephan Picard. Passionate chamber musician, Gabriele actively performs in various chamber music settings. In 2020 she appeared in the TV program Podium Witteman.

Dutch mezzo-soprano Sterre Kooi completed her studies at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. She sang numerous operatic roles, including Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi and Madame de Croissy in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. A few years ago she made her debut at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ during a specially curated recital in honor of Louis Andriessen’s 80th birthday. She also co-created an improvisation opera at the Dutch National Opera during the second edition of the Opera Forward Festival.
Next to her performing career Sterre is very active as a vocal teacher in her own teaching studio and at children opera choir Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam. She also teaches contemporary singing in several music schools throughout the Netherlands. Sterre is married to a Lithuanian national and hopes to bring the beauty of Lithuanian music to the attention of a larger audience through these concerts.

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=== Organiser: Litouws Cultureel Centrum together with Istituto italiano di cultura Paesi Bassi in Amsterdam. Partly supported by: Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Lithuanian embassy in The Hague.