A Special Evening in Panevėžys

Professor Rita Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė, formerly a resident of Panevėžys, invited the Panevėžys Jewish Community to attend an event to present her book “Iškilūs XX a. Lietuvos atlikėjai ir pedagogai Aleksandras Livontas ir Olga Šteinberg” [“Notable 20th Century Performers and Teachers Aleksandras Livontas iand Olga Šteinberg”], a screening of the documentary films “Žmogus su laiko žyme” [“Person Marked by Time”] and “Dainos galia” [“The Power of Song”] and a discussion of other remarkable 20th century performers and teachers. The professor’s book has real historical value, presenting the cultural inheritance and the past through contemporary eyes to readers. Not everyone is able to do this, but Rita Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė has succeeded, as she always does. Panevėžys poet Elvyra Pažemeckaitė helped organize this cultural event.

It’s impossible to picture Lithuanian cultural life and the Lithuanian past without the Jewish contribution to cultural evolution. In her book the professor describes longevity in the words of the writer Grigory Kanovitch: the development of the individual begins with the number of books he’s read.

The audience in the conference hall of the library listened to Rita Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė; violinist and long-time winner of many international competitions for the M. K. Čiurlionis Art School in Vilnius Andrius Krevnevičius; and professor and artist Antanas Kiveris.

Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė said “Thinking about the future we also turn back more towards the past. We build bridges between time not just by judging facts, I always try to see the Man within their intersections. History has to help us understand here and now. By considering the lives of other people we are able sense opportunities for renewal today. History shows us range of moral choices facing Man, perhaps lost but finding solutions.”

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman thanked Dr. Rita Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė deeply for her civic position towards Jewish cultural heritage and cooperation.

The Goodwill Foundation partially sponsored the publication of the book “Iškilūs XX a. Lietuvos atlikėjai ir pedagogai Aleksandras Livontas ir Olga Šteinberg” [“Notable 20th Century Performers and Teachers Aleksandras Livontas iand Olga Šteinberg”].

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