- March 4, 2013
- 255
Lewicki: Television promotes ignoring the nationality
Wherever I worked, I have never met with any conflicts on the grounds of nationality, said the PL DELFI Zbigniew Lewicki, a violin virtuoso, composer and concertmaster of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, and now a judge on the TV show “Auksinis Balsas” (“Golden Voice”).
You sit on the jury of the television project for the first time. How do you assess this new experience?
“Sitting” in the committee is not very hard, it is harder to take part in such a competition. I participated in competitions more than once, so I know from my experience, how hard it is.
There is a stereotype that most television shows is commercialized, cheesy and tacky. How does “Auksinis Balsas” look against a background like this?
“The Golden Voice” tries to be diverse. It doesn’t smell of “pops” so much. From what I’ve already seen, the organizers are trying to diversify the project, some of the ideas are even beyond the abilities of the performers.
And how do you assess the level of the participants?
The level is different and this is the main problem, because the name “The Golden Voice” requires an appropriate level. I understand that it is impossible to gather all the best performers in one project. That’s why I think that the winner can’t be called the Golden Voice of Lithuania, because not all top performers are involved in the project.
Have you ever met with conflicts on the grounds of nationality on TV or, in general, in your professional life?
Wherever I worked, including now on TV, I have never met with any conflicts on the grounds of nationality. On the contrary, I observe that the television promotes performers not paying attention to their origin. The most important of all is that a man had talent and willingness to work.
How do you manage to combine different jobs, different styles: the classic, urban folklore, cabaret…
My primary job is the one at the Opera, the rest I do occasionally, but there’s always something I have to sacrifice.
One of your experimental projects is a musical performance of “Alice in Vilnius”. After seven years, the project was revived and it was warmly received by the audience of Vilnius. What future awaits it?
In the future, this project will serve Ewelina Saszenko, especially in Poland. After the last concert we have already received several proposals to perform: a few private concerts and one “open”, so it will not be forgotten, as it happened last time.
Polish audience longs for high level projects. Are you preparing something new in this field as well?
I have a project, but I don’t have a manager who would take care of my original ideas. I have an idea, which working name is “Henry’s Kasperowicz fiftieth anniversary”. Of course, it is only the working name, but the idea is to gather talented performers from Vilnius in one big concert.
And why such name?
I like Henry Kasperowicz as a man and a friend, and the idea refers to the folk style, and I think of Henry as a great youth organizer, he can arouse young people interest in culture.
It’s the 25th – anniversary of “Vilnius Band” this year…
We are already working on the project “Vilnius Band singing Beatles songs”, but we do not promise that it will be ready for the anniversary and we are not in agreement whether this project fits the jubilee, because the audience will be expecting rather well-known, popular songs from us. However, there surely will be good, great folk band playing on the jubilee. At the beginning of June, at the City Hall Square, throughout the day a variety of bands are scheduled to perform: The Vilnius Band, The Lvov Band, The Warsaw Band and several other bands.
Tłumaczenie Agnieszka Wiecheć w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Agnieszka Wiecheć the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.
