David Geringas

David Geringas (Lithuanian: Dovydas Geringas; born 29 July 1946 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.^[1]

Biography[]

David Geringas has performed as soloist with the greatest orchestras around the globe, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, NHK Symphony and Israel Philharmonic, under such esteemed conductors of our time as Gerd Albrecht, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Myung-whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Lawrence Foster, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Kirill Kondrashin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Yuri Temirkanov, Klaus Tennstedt and Michael Tilson Thomas. He is a regular guest at several major chamber music festival and has a vast repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, much of which he has recorded, being awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy in 1989. He is a cello professor in Berlin.

Important contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Pēteris Vasks and Erkki-Sven Tüür have dedicated new compositions to Geringas. In July 2006, ' composition "David's Song for Cello and String Quartet" was premièred in Kronberg – a dedication to Geringas's 60th birthday.

David Geringas is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. The cellist and conductor has an unusually broad repertoire from the earliest baroque up to contemporary music. He was the first musician to play in the West works of the Russian and Lithuanian avant garde and many composers dedicated works to him. For his worldwide engagement for Lithuanian music and its composers he was awarded highest distinctions of his country. In October 2006 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Köhler awarded the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (Federal Cross of Merit) to David Geringas for his overall efforts as musician and German Cultural Ambassador to the world music scene.

Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, David Geringas studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1963 until 1973 with Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 David Geringas won the First Prize and the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky competition. In 2000 he took over a professorship of cello at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin. Moreover, he is honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory. David Geringas also heads various master-classes all over the world for the up-and-coming musicians. His students are winners of prizes and awards of international competitions.

Renowned composers of contemporary music dedicated works to David Geringas, thus the Concerto in Do by , being played by David Geringas for the first time in 2002 and being awarded the European Composers Prize in Berlin, the Cello Concerto by Ned Rorem, world premiere 2003 in the US, the Cello Concertos by and by Vidmantas Bartulis, world premiere 2004 respective 2005 in Lithuania. A special event was the world premiere of Anatolijus Šenderovas' work "David's Song for Cello and String Quartet" in July 2006 in Kronberg which the composer had written on the occasion of David Geringas' 60th birthday.

He has been teaching at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena since 2005.

David Geringas' concerts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the , the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Berner Symphonie-Orchester, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as his first performance with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at once being reinvited for 2007, belong among others to the highlights of the concert season 2005/2006. He was also guest at prestigious festivals in Germany, Great Britain and France this summer. In the season 2006/2007 David Geringas will give concerts among others with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim and the Galicia Symphony Orchestra. On the occasion of D. Shostakovich's 100th Birthday David Geringas is invited by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf to arrange and to head a weekend of several performances dedicated to the composer.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Discography[]

For about 50 CDs which David Geringas has up to now recorded he received a large number of distinctions, among them the Grand Prix du Disque for the recording of the 12 cello concerti by Luigi Boccherini. His extensive discography also includes many award-winning recordings such as the chamber music by Henri Dutilleux (Diapason d'Or) or the cello concertos by Hans Pfitzner (Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik).^[7][8]

• Eli Zion – from St. Petersburg to Jerusalem

  Musik der Neuen Jüdischen Schule für Cello und Klavier

  Works by:

  Joseph Achron, Ernst Bloch, Sinowi Feldman, Solomon Rosowsky, Lazare Saminsky, Joachim Stutschewsky, Leo Zeitlin

  with , piano

• Tschaikowsky-Variationen

  Tchaikovsky, Arensky

  David Geringas, conductor and cellist

• J. S. Bach, 6 Suites for Cello (1995)
• Bach (1989)

  Suite No. 1

  Suite No. 2

  Suite No. 6

• Bach (1989)

  Suite No. 3

  Suite No. 4

  Suite No. 5

• Quasi Improvisata (2003)

  - Songs of Sulamite

  Sofia Gubaidulina - In Croce

  Lepo Sumera - Quasi Improvisata

  - Habanera

  Ástor Piazzolla - Tanti Anni Prima, Oblivion, Hommage à Liège

  with , bayan

• Mozartiana - Hommage à Mozart (1992)

  Mozart - Andantino for piano and cello, K.Anh. 46

  Beethoven - Seven variations in E-flat major for cello and piano

  "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute

  Helene Liebmann - "Grande Sonate pour Pianoforte et Violincelle" in B-flat major, Op. 11

  Beethoven - Twelve variations in F major, Op. 66 for cello and piano

  "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute

  Joseph Wölfl - "Grand Duo pour Piano et Violoncelle" in D minor, Op. 31

  Franz Xaver Mozart - From the Grand Sonata for piano and cello, Op. 19

  with , piano

• Boccherini - 12 Concerti per il Violoncello (1988)

  Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, G 474

  Concerto No. 2 in A major, G 475

  Concerto No. 3 in D major, G 476

  Concerto No. 4 in C major, G 477

  Concerto No. 5 in D major, G 478

  Concerto No. 6 in D major, G 479

  Concerto No. 7 in G major, G 480

  Concerto No. 8 in C major, G 481

  Concerto No. 9 in B-flat major, G 482

  Concerto No. 10 in D major, G 483

  Concerto No. 11 in C major, G 573

  Concerto No. 12 in E-flat, major

  e del Veneto

  Conductor: Bruno Giuranna

• Brahms - Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, in A minor, Op. 102 (1989)

  Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

  Mark Kaplan, violin

  Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden

  Conductor: Michael Gielen

• Solo for Tatjana (1997)

  György Ligeti - Sonata for cello solo

  Gerhard Schedl - from "Zwei Stücke aus der Schatz-Truhe"

  Viktor Suslin - Schatz-Island

  Krzysztof Meyer - Monolog

  - Due Canti

  Pēteris Vasks - Gramata cellam

  Paul Hindemith - Sonata for cello solo, Op. 25, No. 3

  Pablo Casals - Cant dell Ocells

• Dvořák (2003)

  Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191

  Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, B. 181

  , B. 182

  Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

  Conductor Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi

• (1997)

  Musical fairytale from the "Thousand and One Nights"

  Narrator: Manfred Steffen

  Music: Alexander Geringas

  Violin:

  Flute: Wolfgang Ritter

  Piano/song: Alexander Geringas

  Bass:

  Drums:

• Gubaidulina (2000)

  "Und: Das Fest ist in vollem Gang"

  Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe

  Conductor: Kazushi Ono

• Haydn (1994)

  Cello Concerto in C major, Hob. VIIb-1

  Ceccl Concerto in D major, Hob. VIIb-2

  Andante from Symphony No. 13 for Cello and Orchestra

  Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra

• My recollections (2002)

  Vytautas Barkauskas - Suites de concert, Op. 98

  Bronius Kutavicius - Rhythmus-Arhythmus

  - Due canti

  with , piano

  Osvaldas Balakauskas - Dal vento

  - Reminiscences

  with Petras Geniusas, piano

• Pfitzner (1993)

  Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 52

  Cello Concerto in G major in one movement, Op. 42

  Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. posth.

  Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

  Werner Andreas Albert

• David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1994)

  Dmitri Shostakovich - Sonata, Op. 40

  Prokofiev

  Sonata, Op. 119

  Adagio from Cinderella, Op. 97a

  Mstislav Rostropovich - Humoreske, Op. 5

  Tatjana Schatz, Piano

• Schnittke (1998–99)

  Epilogue from the ballet "Peer Gynt"

  Musica nostalgica

  Cello Sonata No. 1

  Tatjana Schatz, Piano

• Piano Trios

  Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Piano Trio, Op. 24

  Alexander Weprik - Drei Volkstänze, Op. 13b

  Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Trio, Op. 67

  Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Violin

  , Piano

• David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1994)

  Schumann

  Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70

  Fantasiestücke, Op. 73

  Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102

  Schubert

  Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821

  Tatjana Schatz, piano

• David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1993)

  Richard Strauss

  Cello Sonata, Op. 6

  Romance in F Major

  Erwin Schulhoff - Cello Sonata, Op. 17

  Tatjana Schatz, piano

• (2002)

  Concerto in Do

  Symphony Orchestra of the Lithuanian Academy of Music

  , Conductor

• Lepo Sumera (2003)

  Cello Concerto

  Musica profana

  Symphony No. 6

  Estonian National Symphony Orchestra

  Paavo Järvi, Conductor

• Erkki-Sven Tüür

  Symphony No. 3

  Cello Concerto

  Lighthouse

  Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien

  Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

• Pēteris Vasks

  Cello Concerto

  String Symphony - Voices (Balsis)

  , Conductor

• Schostakowitsch - Schulhoff

  Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 14

  with Gidon Kremer, Violin - , Violin - Kim Kashkashian, Viola

  Erwin Schulhoff - Sextet

  with Gidon Kremer, Violin - , Violin - Nobuko Imai, Viola - Kim Kashkashian, Viola - Julius Berger, cello

  Erwin Schulhoff - Duo for Violin and Cello

  with , Violin

• Krzysztof Meyer (2006)

  Canzona für Violoncello und Klavier

  with , Klavier

Chamber music[]

David Geringas is also a welcome guest at international chamber music stages. So and belong to his closest partners on the piano. In the season 2004/2005 David Geringas gave together with Ian Fountain a concert series entitled "Beethoven plus…" at the Philharmonie Berlin. He also works closely together with the , the and the Bläserquintett of the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Conducting[]

To an ever-growing extent David Geringas has been engaged as conductor. Among others he conducted the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, the , the Jenaer Philharmonie, the (Concert-Verein), the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, das Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Kremerata Baltica as well as orchestras in Lithuania, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico and Costa Rica. In February 2007 David Geringas will conduct for the first time the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, give his debut as conductor in China in the 2007/2008 season and will be guest again in Japan.

For his first CD recording as conductor he received the 'Choc de la Musique' of the music magazine Le Monde de la musique.

Since 2005 David Geringas has been Chief Guest Conductor of the .

Cello[]

David Geringas plays a G. B. Guadagnini cello made in 1761.^[9]

References[]

Sources[]

• The Classical Music Guide Forums

External links[]

• Home page of David Geringas
• Kajimoto Concert Management
• David Geringas - Accademia Musicale Chigiana

Bibliography[]

• Geringas, Tatjana (2020). In viaggio. Impressioni (in Italian). Varese: Zecchini Editore. ISBN 9788865402917.