Saule Kilaite is a famous violinist, she collaborated with many Italian and international artists. She strongly believes in the power of music and in the magic of art in all its forms.
HI SAULE, HOW DID YOUR LOVE FOR MUSIC AND FOR A CLASSICAL INSTRUMENT LIKE THE VIOLIN BEGIN? HOW DID YOU CULTIVATE THIS PASSION OVER TIME?
I think I was born a violinist. When I was about four years old, I was lucky enough to listen to Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" for the first time and from that day on, I was struck by both the violin and the magical world of music.
From that moment on I insisted every single day asking my mom (as only a child can do) to let me play this instrument. At first, adults thought it was a passing passion but I spent hours and days playing an imaginary violin, so much that I finally made it and managed to get a chance.
I actually started studying at the age of five and I was very excited. But it's normal that as teenagers we start having other priorities and as adults we often find ourselves failed musicians, pilots or footballers. It also happened to me to feel a bit lost in my teenage years, so much that I thought about giving up studying music to become a lawyer or... a journalist. ☺ The things that made me decide not to change my direction were my mom's support and trust. She was the one who gave me the right push and enthusiasm to continue and finish what I had started, because she intuitively knew that this would be the right way for me.
HAVE YOUR LITHUANIAN ORIGINS AND THE FACT THAT YOU TRAVEL A LOT BECAUSE OF YOUR WORK INFLUENCED YOUR WAY OF MAKING MUSIC?
Definitely traveling broadens horizons in every way. For any person with a little bit of sensitivity and care, a trip is enriching and when you come back you usually put into practice what you left in your heart, eyes and soul. Everyone does it in their own way, artists put it into their work. My origins contributed to create my current style, but it was a mix of experiences and encounters and the infinite Italian culture that led me to make the music I make now.
WHEN REVISITING MUSIC BY CLASSICAL COMPOSERS, WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO ADD ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR STYLE?
I actually let myself be guided by the intuition of the moment, I try not to have any rules. It happens that I hear modern arrangements that go perfectly with classical melodies and vice versa and I write them down without thinking twice. Many times, I hear them again and throw it all away, other times I wake up my collaborator in the middle of the night and we go down to the studio to work on the idea because I have to hear it right away :) I discovered I had a recognizable style after listening to myself on CDs and because others pointed it out to me.
The musical bases and the "modern" sounds that I add to classic music give me the opportunity to express a common language with a wider audience. Nothing to do with a commercialization of art, as someone might sometimes think, quite the contrary. It is my own creative research that comes out of the conservative mentality of those who consider art and classical music a dogma. For me, music is a constant change and I find nothing wrong in making it closer to the language of our times.
YOUR ARTISTIC PROJECT VIOLIN PERFORMANCE IS BASED ON THE UNION OF THE FIVE ARTS: MUSIC, DANCE, PAINTING/VIDEO ART, LITERATURE AND THEATER. WHAT IS THE MEETING POINT OF THESE WORLDS AND HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO PUT THEM TOGETHER IN ONE ELEMENT?
I’d like to answer this question with my personal interpretation of Pablo Picasso's famous phrase: "Music is stronger than me. It makes me do what it wants". During the creation of the first album, we found out that we liked the songs, but they were distant from each other, in terms of time, genre and sound. How