Clara

A performance-concert inspired by the life and work of German pianist and composer Clara Schumann (1819–1896)

Concept and script – GUODA GEDVILAITĖ, BIRUTĖ MAR

Director – BIRUTĖ MAR

Choreographer, assistant to the director – SIGITA MIKALAUSKAITĖ

Set Designer – INDRĖ PAČĖSAITĖ

Video Projection Designer – MARIUS VILČINSKAS

Lighting Designer – AUDRIUS JANKAUSKAS

Cast:

BIRUTĖ MAR

Pianist – Guoda Gedvilaitė

Duration – 1 hr 10 min

Premiere – April 8, 2024, at Vilnius Town Hall.

Fragments of diaries and letters by Clara Schumann and her contemporaries translated by B. Mar and G. Gedvilaitė

Project created in collaboration with VšĮ „Muzika visaip“

Project partially funded by – Vilnius City Municipality

Upcoming Events

Renginių nėra

About

The project “CLARA,” combining music and theater, tells the life story of the renowned German composer and pianist Clara Schumann (1819–1896).

Clara Schumann’s fate is shrouded in legend. Gifted with extraordinary piano talents from childhood, Clara Josephine Wieck, daughter of the strict and renowned piano teacher Friedrich Wieck, began performing and composing at the age of eleven. By nineteen, she was already a celebrated pianist touring Germany, Austria, and France—one of the few female concert pianists in Europe at the time. Soon, Clara marries the young composer Robert Schumann. In obedience to her husband’s wishes, she attempts to give up her performing career and devote herself to the family, ultimately bearing eight children. Fate brings another great composer into their home—Johannes Brahms, who falls in love with Clara, fourteen years his senior…

Like Alice in the Looking-Glass, Clara navigates the worlds of music and love, surrounded by eight children and her genius dreamer husband Robert Schumann, while striving not to abandon her calling—continuing her intense concert career…

In the concert-theater performance about Clara Schumann’s fate, the story is told through the works of C. and R. Schumann performed by pianist Guoda Gedvilaitė (who is often called the “Lithuanian Clara Schumann” in the music world), as well as fragments of letters, diaries, and contemporaries’ memoirs of the Schumanns, translated into Lithuanian for the first time and interpreted by actress Birutė Mar.

Moments from the concert-theater performance “CLARA” in Vilnius, St. Catherine’s Church, 15.01.2025

Audience Feedback

“That feeling when, sitting in the hall, you’re not analyzing the music or its performance, but simply enjoying it… something that rarely happens… Today, the wonderful, top-tier pianist Guoda Gedvilaitė-Göhle and my beloved actress Birutė Mar transported us to Clara Schumann’s era. There was so much beautiful storytelling about Clara’s life and plenty of music. In St. Catherine’s Church, the piano sounded brilliantly, with Guoda masterfully and expressively performing the music of Clara and her husband Robert Schumann… Thank you, Guoda, thank you, Birutė, for being who you are!!!! I highly recommend going to see the concert-theater performance Clara, Songs of Love! My soul has been revived!!!!!!”
Neda Malūnavičiūtė, jazz vocalist
Facebook post – Solo Theatre, January 6, 2025
“Thank you, dear ladies, for creating a Miracle on stage. It was so tender, so beautiful, so emotional. I wanted to listen again and again to the velvety voice of Birutė Mar and the piano sounds of Guoda Gedvilaitė. Wonderful! ♥️♥️♥️”
Danguolė Ba
Facebook post – Solo Theatre, January 6, 2025
“Attending the concert “Clara. Song of Love” means not only hearing music that is hard to put into words, but also experiencing the family story of Clara and Robert Schumann with all its major and minor nuances. Listening to the concert and observing pianist Guoda Gedvilaitė’s deeply natural embodiment of Clara Schumann, it truly feels as if you are transported to the 19th century, when the renowned pianist performed her husband Robert Schumann’s compositions, in which the sounds often reflected the Schumann family’s own experiences—love, the joy of children’s births, and dreams.
In addition to Guoda’s music, Clara and Robert Schumann’s life is brought to the stage through letters and diaries read by Birutė Mar during the concert. Despite the dramas that befell Clara and Robert, they were always united and guided by their love for music, which was as vital to them as air itself.
Listening to live music performed with such precision, elegance, and sensitivity while simultaneously hearing the Schumann family story under the vaults of St. Catherine’s Church is an experience one wishes to repeat. Thank you for the music, the grace, the historical insight, and for the fact that you—Birutė Mar and Guoda—meet on the same stage and become that life-giving air for those who listen to you.”
Diana Dane
Facebook post – January 11, 2025