Eduardas Balsys. On Mastership

Eduardas Balsys (1919-1984)
On mastership

The exhibition presents the music by Eduardas Balsys as a means of communication. It is music that narrates and offers convincing emotional experiences, enthralling the listener not only by its sound, but also by its visuality.  It can be a chilling drone of war, an enchanting roar of sea waves, or a dreamy nostalgia for a place where you have never been.

A strong focus on the listener's experience distinguishes Balsys's work and his teaching methods among those of the composers of his generation. A representative of the first postwar generation of musicians, together with Julius Juzeliūnas in the late 1950s Balsys mapped the directions of development for Lithuanian music. What he offered to his listeners and students was restrained modernism, a consistently reasonable structure of compositions, catchy melodies and well-thought-out instrumentation. Each of his new works had a distinctive sound, and a large part of them are hailed as milestones of their time. That is why, looking back at Balsys's legacy, it is interesting to remember the time in which he lived, the influences that he experienced, and the trends that he set.

The composer is presented as a creator of a wide scope, who created symphonic and chamber music, music for stage productions and cinema and also popular songs. Exhibition consists of various kind of exhibits: audio recordings, excerpts of feature and documentary film, photographs, texts, authentic objects. Exhibition design is based on a cinematographic principle of narration, which is characteristic to Balsys oeuvre. Exhibition is set in the central lobby and the smaller exhibition hall.

Curators: Eglė Juocevičiūtė, Ieva Buinevičiūtė
Exhibition designers: Ieva Cicėnaitė, Matas Šiupšinskas
Graphic designer Laura Grigaliūnaitė

Partners: Lithuanian National Radio and Television,  Lithuanian Literature and Art Archive, Lithuanian Central State Archive, The Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum, Lithuanian National Museum, Lithuanian Film Centre

The project is financed by  Lithuanian Council for Culture
Sponsor UAB Exterus
Media sponsor lrtytas.lt