In October 1969, a new collective of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, the Kaunas State Choir, began its creative path. Its biography has been shaped nicely. The choir went forward step by step, actively and determinedly, from small pieces, folk songs, compositions by Lithuanian composers and occasional ones to the first performance of Mozart’s Requiem in 1971. Later the repertoire of large-scale classical compositions was compiled. The choir created its own image and found its place among other collectives.
Petras Bingelis, one of the most famous Lithuanian musicians of nowadays, has been leading the choir since the day of its establishment. Such a continuous collaboration is quite rare in the world of music. Assistant Conductor Algimantas Mišeikis has been working with the choir almost as long as the leader.
Now the repertoire of the Kaunas State Choir consists of about 70 large-scale compositions, such as Bach’s Mass in B minor, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Symphony No. 9, Handel’s oratorios, Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2 and 8, Orff’s trilogy Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina and The Triumph of Aphrodite, Verdi’s Requiem and opera Forza del Destino, and works by Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Rossini, Dvořák, Schubert, Gershwin and others. The choir has performed also a great number of composition by Lithuanian composers including oratorios by Bronius Kutavičius and Julius Juzeliunas, Requiem by Vidmantas Bartulis, and songs by the Lithuanian classics Juozas Naujalis, Stasys Šimkus, Balys Dvarionas, Vladas Jakubenas, Jeronimas Kačinskas and others. Having been widely recognized in the former Soviet Union, the Kaunas Choir was given an opportunity to show itself also in the West where it was first acknowledged after performing Mikis Theodorakis’s Spring Symphony in Berlin and Paris.
After Lithuania regained its independence and the iron curtain was broken, the choir’s concert life became even more active and eventful especially when its collaboration with the legendary violinist and conductor Lord Yehudy Menuhin began. The year of 1992, when the festival “The New and Old Ways to India” dedicated to 500th anniversary of the discovery of America took place, was also an important year for the choir.
Many European newspapers called the Kaunas State Choir the greatest musical discovery of the year and this was Lord Yehudy Menuhin’s opinion, too. One of the most significant performances of the choir was the one together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the German conductor Justus Frantz at the Berlin Stadium, where it was applauded by the audience of 75 000.
The theatrical performances of Handel’s Messiah with Lord Yehudy Menuhin at conductor’s stand have toured France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Egypt, Russia, and other countries. The concert version of the oratorio was performed in Argentina and Chile.
The performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor together with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Prof. Saulius Sondeckis gave birth to a long-lasting and productive collaboration with this famous collective. Handel’s Messiah and compositions by Vivaldi, Mozart and Schubert have been together performed a number of times in the most famous concert halls in Lithuania and abroad.
The long-lasting collaboration with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and its leader Juozas Domarkas has been especially fruitful. It has brought a number of performances of many masterpieces of the world’s classics in Lithuania as well as in the concert halls of Moscow, St Petersburg, and Western Europe.
The Kaunas State Choir has participated at many international music festivals, including the “Bordeaux Spring”, “Mediterranean Sea”, festivals in Reims and Strasbourg (France), “The New and Old Ways to India” (Spain), the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and the Festival of the Countries of Middle Europe (Germany), festivals in Turku (Finland), Bergen (Norway), Maspalomas (the Canary Islands) and other places. It has collaborated with many famous orchestras of the world, such as the orchestras from Paris, Bordeaux, Poland, Moscow, St Petersburg, the Collon Theatre Orchestra (Argentina) and others. The choir has performed under the baton of many outstanding conductors including Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Justus Franz, Ivo Raichev, Dmitri Kitajenko, Vladimir Fedosejev, Jurij Bashmet, Juozas Domarkas, Saulius Sondeckis, Jonas Aleksa, and Gintaras Rinkevičius.
Recently the choir has been successfully collaborating with the famous cellist and
conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. The performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Evian Festival (France) has promised good new prospects for the choir.
Musical critics appreciate the choir’s performances. The choir especially values the opinions of such outstanding musicians as Yehudi Menuhin, Justus Frantz and Mstislav Rostropovich, who have collaborated with the choir many times. They have always mentioned such special features of the collective as high vocal powers and culture of singing, perfect intonation, and large scale of timbres.
Petras Bingelis has been leading the Kaunas State Choir since its establishment in 1969. After graduating from the Lithuanian Academy of Music, he studied conducting at the Conservatoire of Leipzig under Rolf Reuter and Kurt Masur in 1975 – 1976. Under Bingelis’s leadership, the Kaunas State Choir has compiled an extensive repertoire including the most difficult compositions that can be performed only by professional collectives of the highest level.
In addition to his major work at the Kaunas Philharmonic Society, Petras Bingelis’s many outside commitments include being a professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, the artistic director of the Pažaislis Festival, the chief conductor of the Lithuanian Festival of Songs and the Festival of Songs of the Lithuanians of the World, and the chairman of the Kaunas Section of Choral Conductors.
Petras Bingelis has conducted Lithuanian orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra. Both orchestras have collaborated with the Kaunas State Choir performing many large-scale compositions, such as Bach’s Mass in B minor and St Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Saint-Saëns’s The Flood, Rossini’s Tancredi, and many others. He has also conducted Verdi’s La Traviata and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Kaunas Music Theatre and has collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of the Odessa Philharmonic Society.
In 1994, Petras Bingelis was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize and Grand Duke Gediminas Order of the 4th degree in recognition of his artistic achievements.
“If somebody asks me what the meaning of my life is, I will answer without any hesitation that it is love of music,” said Petras Bingelis receiving the National Prize.
