Paleasis was formed in 2022 on the initiative of Alexander Paley (USA-France), an internationally acclaimed charismatic piano virtuoso. “Not a one-day project, but an ensemble that rehearses, performs and develops regularly – this is my long-standing dream. I am very happy that this dream has been realised in Lithuania. I have gathered ten professional musicians and like-minded people with the aim of playing well-known and rarely performed masterpieces of classical music on stage, as well as premieres in the making,” says the virtuoso about the circumstances of the ensemble’s creation.
The ensemble made its debut on 26 June 2022 at the Kaunas State Philharmonic. “Paleasis actively performs all over Lithuania, and in the two years of its existence, the ensemble has become a friend of audiences in many Lithuanian cities and towns. In 2023, Paleasis made its first tour in the pianist’s home country of Moldova, at the Chisinau Philharmonic, where the ensemble was highly praised by the audience and critics alike, who called the concert “undeniably magnificent and an unforgettable experience”. Paleasis also received excellent reviews during their tour of France, at the Moulin d’Ande Festival, where their music was described as “not at festival level but at philharmonic level”.
The Pažaislis Festival has already become the ensemble’s own. In the summer of 2024, Paleasis will perform at the festival for the third time, presenting two conceptual programmes revealing the parallels between the music of one of Lithuania’s most famous composers, Onutė Narbutaitė, and Fryderyk Chopin, as well as the genius of the compositions of the great Romantic and 20th-century classicists, Frantz Schubert, Béla Bartók, and Aram Khachaturian. The concert programmes will be performed by Paley, violinist Kristijonas Pūtys, violist Tomas Savickas, clarinettist Karolis Kolakauskas and cellist Marius Dominykas Sakavičius, a new member of the Paleasis, who will be making his debut at the festival.
“Paleasis is distinguished by its unique line-up, which makes it possible to turn music-making together into a laboratory of chamber music-making, which opens up a wide range of repertoire and possibilities of getting to know each other. “I appreciate the professionalism of my stage partners and the taste of the Lithuanian audience, so together with the ensemble we are constantly looking for opportunities to expand our repertoire and to surprise and delight Lithuanian listeners with it,” says the pianist.
