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Concert

The essence of opera: The marriage of Figaro

10/02/2025
Photo (detail): Viktorija Mištautaitė

Scenes from W. A. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro

Count Almaviva – Caspar Lloyd James (baritone)

Countess – Joana Gedmintaitė (soprano)

Figaro, the Count’s valet – Jonas Sakalauskas (bass-baritone)

Susanna, the Countess’s maid – Emilija Finagejevaitė (soprano)

Orchestra: Raminta Lampsatytė (grand piano)

Narrator – Domas Saulevičius


The Grand Hall of the Sapieha Palace will be gripped with passion on 10 February as the beauty of the music in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756–1791) The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro, 1786) is presented in a new ‘essence of opera’ format. This chamber performance follows the tradition of opera concisa (concise opera), popular in Germany, offering an opportunity to rediscover the magic of opera. The respectful contemporary interpretation invites the audience to experience the core essence of the classic opera by listening to its key arias and ensembles while following the main plot and emotional arcs. The authentic chamber setting of the Sapieha Palace enhances the impact of Mozart’s music, allowing the audience to fully feel the power of its passions and the majesty of the opera.

Caspar Lloyd James (UK/France) will perform the role of Count Almaviva. It is symbolic that the character will be portrayed by an English Lord, an aristocrat. James has sung leading roles in a variety of European opera productions, including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Women Are Like That, George Frideric Händel’s Imeneo, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and has performed with the Brandenburgisches Staatorchester in Frankfurt.

 

The role of the Countess will be performed by Joana Gedmintaitė, two-time winner the Golden Stage Cross and a soloist with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (LNOBT). Gedmintaitė has created more than 20 lead soprano roles and, in LNOBT’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, has sung as both Susanna and the Countess. In 2023, she performed the role of the Countess at the Macedonian National Opera Theatre, and in 2024 she appeared in two premieres: Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at the LNOBT and Philip Glass’s The Journey at the Klaipėda State Music Theatre.

 

Jonas Sakalauskas, a Golden Stage Cross winner and opera soloist, will take on the title role of Figaro. Sakalauskas made his debut in Giedrius Kurpevičius’s 2004 musical Fire Hunt and Beaters and has since performed in LNOBT productions as well as opera productions in Latvia and Estonia. Figaro’s cunning fiancée will be portrayed by Emilija Finagejevaitė, a soloist who participated in the LNOBT’s trainee programme between 2022 and 2023. Finagejevaitė has appeared in productions of Verdi’s Aida and La Traviata. She and Sakalauskas performed as Figaro and Susanna together at the Macedonian National Opera Theatre in 2023 and at the Bergedorf Music Festival in Hamburg, Germany, in 2024.

 

The performance will also feature Raminta Lampsatytė, a pianist of Lithuanian origin and a professor at the Hamburg School of Music. Born in Chicago (USA) and now based in Berlin, she is an honorary member of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union and often returns to Lithuania for various projects.

 

Duration: ~75 min.

Organisers: Sapieha Palace and Opera Light, VšĮ

Concept by: Julija Karaliūnaitė