Tuesday 17 May 3.00 pm

Milda Daunoraité (piano)

Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV 903

Bach: French suite no 2 in C minor BWV 813
Allemande / Courante / Sarabande / Minuet / Aria / Gigue

Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E flat major Op 81a ‘ Les Adieux’
Adagio-Allegro / Andante / Vivacissimamente

Bartok: Piano Sonata
Allegro / Sostenuto / Allegro

How refreshing to hear a recital from a young musician with classical repertoire played with such simplicity and clarity and a transcendental technique that allows the music to speak so naturally and with such intelligent musicianship.
Such was the recital of Milda Daunoraitė at St Mary’s today ……..a rose is always a rose so Dr Hugh Mather is forgiven for misspelling her name as she is one of the 150 young musicians that he presents in his series year after year.
Milda played with such freshness and joie de vivre that it was a joy to listen to her on what must be the hottest day of the year.
And hot it certainly was with her demonic performance of the Bartok Sonata with it’s pungent driving rhythms and a kaleidoscopic range of sounds that gave such architectural shape to the outer movements.The austere slow movement was played with a luminosity of sound and a clear sense of line but always with the same clean and clear sound that is so much part of the Hungarian sound world of Foldes or Anda.
A chromatic fantasy that was indeed a great fantasy of beauty and authority with some magic colouring as the arpeggios were allowed to unravel so naturally and there was such deep meaning given to the recitativi.A fugue that was played with a clarity and rhythmic energy as it built up to the grandiose final statement.
Her Beethoven op 81a ‘Les Adieux’ was played with such joy and energy.The opening Adagio played with weight and meaning and an Andante of ravishing colour and fluidity that was rudely interrupted by her scintillating Vivacissimamente.
Her choice too of the second French suite was a refreshing change from the better known fifth.It was played with infectious rhythmic energy and the ornaments of the final Gigue were worthy of the greatest intricacies of Rameau.There was also great beauty in the Aria played with a superb sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing with such simple beauty.

Milda Daunoraité was born in Lithuania and began her piano studies at the age of six. She moved to London 4 years ago and studied piano performance at the Purcell School and is now continuing her studies with Tessa Nicholson at the Royal Academy of Music under a full fees scholarship. She has been supported by ‘SOS Talents foundation – Michel Sogny’ since she was 9 and as a result, Milda began performing extensively throughout Europe for many eminent music societies, festivals and key events. Milda has performed at venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikhuset Aarhus in Denmark, United Nations headquarters in Geneva. Every year, she has an opportunity to appear in a Christmas concert held in the ‘Dassault’ hotel in the Champs Elysées in Paris. A few of those concerts were broadcast by Mezzo & TV5 Monde. Milda has performed at the EMMA World Summit of Nobel Prize Peace Laureates in Warsaw and also had an opportunity to play the 4th V. Bacevicius concerto for Piano and Orchestra in Lithuanian National Philharmonic with Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra as a result of having EMCY publish her profile on their website.She is a prize winner of numerous national and international competitions, such as the 1st Prize in the international V. Krainev Piano Competition in Kharkov, Ukraine; the ‘jury‘ prize in the PIANALE International Academy & Competition and the Purcell School solo and concerto competition which led her to perform at the Wigmore Hall and the Ravel piano concerto in G at the QEH, Southbank.