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How 15 minutes said Jonas Sakalauskas, head of LNOBT, coincided with several important occasions, from which it was decided to commemorate the teacher’s memory now.
“First, on September 22. She turns 85 when Noreika was born. Also on September 23. The second final of the Noreika International Vocal Competition will take place in the theater. We realized that it was the right time both to commemorate the anniversary and to immortalize the legendary soloist and a really very important personality in Lithuania.
Edgar Montvid, a former student of V. Noreika, immediately after his death expressed the idea of perpetuating the memory of the teacher; his students were very interested in contributing to this. Even then, E. Montvidas proposed to place a sculpture dedicated to V. Noreika in the lobby. Noreika’s wife is also in charge of his perpetuation “, said J. Sakalauskas
The author of the bust, Gediminas Piekuras, affirms that although he himself has not had direct contact with the Master, he has repeatedly seen the soloist’s performances on stage and assures that he grew up listening to his songs.
“Creating portraits of brilliant artists is never easy: they acquire hundreds of different faces on stage … Working by hand, I had a large set of Master photographs from the archive of Mrs. L. Bartusevičiūtė-Noreikienė. However, I take the attitude of not sticking to one of the images that I like the most, I try to create the impression of the person represented in me, to learn as much as possible about him … In this sense, the work of a sculptor it is similar to an artist creating a new character.
He didn’t have much time, he wanted to prepare a bronze bust for the Master’s anniversary. However, I am satisfied with this work of mine, I am glad that the Maestro family has no reproach for him, ”sculptor G. Piekuras told LNOBT.
Virgil Noreika (1935-2018) sang in many theaters around the world: the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (more than 50 times), the Berlin State Opera, the Grand Opera in Paris, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Sofia, Belgrade , Budapest, Bucharest, Lithuanian Opera and other venues in Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Kiev, Minsk, Tallinn, Riga, Chicago.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min / Virgilijus Noreika
The soloist has created more than 50 roles, given more than 700 solo concerts.
V.Noreika became a soloist of the Opera and Ballet Theater in 1957. From 1975 to 1991 he was the director of this theater, the artistic director. The first post-war Lithuanian soloist did an internship at the La Scala Theater in Milan.
V.Noreika began teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in 1976. His students include Edgaras Montvidas, Merūnas Vitulskis, Vaidas Vyšniauskas (Kristian Benedikt), Tomas Pavilionis, Laimonas Pautienius, Arūnas Malikėnas, Sergejus Larinas, Algirdas Janutas , Liudas Norvaišas, Eugenijus Chrebtovas, Jonas Sauskka, Jonas Sauskius. Mindaugas Žemaitis.
V.Noreika has won many awards, including the Lithuanian National Prize for Art and Culture in 2010 “for greatest vocal mastery and unshakable talent.” Also, the Grand Cross of the Lithuanian Order of Merit, the Order of the White Star of Estonia.
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