Šimkus plays Šimkus – VESTARDS SHIMKUS (b.1984) : Concerto No.1 for piano and string orchestra "Dedicated To The Bothersome Man" "Dreamscapes", Nine etudes for piano "Gates of Destiny" for piano and symphony orchestra Vestards Šimkus - piano, 
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, 
Atvars Lakstīgala - conductor

Description: Vestard Shimkus was born into an intelligent and musical family. His father, Gunārs Shimkus, played in the Katedrāle art-rock group together with composer Vilnis Šmīdbergs. His mother, Iveta Shimkus, is a poet and literature teacher. His younger sister, Aurēlija Shimkus, is a pianist. And Shimkus himself has been married to singer Elīna Shimkus since 2012. In interviews, Shimkus has also always stressed the importance of the support he has received from his family, which helped him while studying abroad and as he launched his career. He has won an impressive number of awards, including the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona in 2009 and the similarly prestigious Los Angeles International Liszt Competition seven years earlier. The list of musicians he has studied under at academies and masterclasses would be similarly long and include Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, Vadim Sukhanov in Munich and Daniel Pollack in Los Angeles. [..] First of all, it is for good reason that Šimkus calls himself a romantically thinking and feeling artist, and therefore the music he creates echoes the metamorphoses of turbulent imagination and vivid characters in the music of composer-pianists Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninov. Second, virtuosity is an integral part of Romantic music, and here Šimkus fully realises his pianistic potential – the texture of the instrument sparkles with ever new variations, waves of rhythm and harmony crashing against each other. Third, Shimkus’ predecessors reacted very harshly to empty, meaningless virtuosity, and so he has also found room in his music for contemplation, meditation, lyrically serene moments and quiet observation. Armands Znotiņš Vestards Šimkus - piano, 
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, 
Atvars Lakstīgala - conductor