Trio Andrė - Liudas Mockūnas - Vytis Nivinskas, the early incarnation of the future Saga Quartet, made its début with improvised concert at St. Johns Church (Vilnius, Lithuania) in spring of 2004. L. Mockūnas --- extremely talented instrumentalist and composer, graduate of Lithuanian Academy of Music, pupil of V. Chekasin. For several years he has been very active in European improvisatory music scene. His projects with Stephan Pasborg, Marc Ducret, Jacob Anderskov, trios "Revolver" and M.A.P., quintet "Toxicum" and other performers of avant-guarde jazz are invariably met with high critical acclaim. His distinctively European improvisatory style, seemingly inexhaustible in variety of expressive and thematical material, always captures audiences with its drama, power of expression and unexpected twists and turns of intricate and fractured musical fabric. V. Nivinskas --- upright bass virtuoso and composer --- is a musician more of American flavour, having received MA at DePaul University in Chicago. Also it has been Chicago where he formed his first "Baltic Asteroids" band which performed very successfully at various venues in USA and then in Lithuania. He is a real wizard of bass, extracting dynamic, tight and highly mobile sound of exquisite beauty with apparent facility and smoothness. His catchy themes and phrases always win the hearts of listeners. Marijus Aleksa --- superb drummer, winner of quite a few performing contests. Still a student at Lithuanian Music Academy, he already is well known and respected at local and international stages and has performed with many a famous artists and projects at various venues. He plays wide scope of music: jazz, fusion, hip-hop, funky, etc. Marijus is renowned for its precise style and unconstrained musical thinking. His groovy beats and breakneck broken rhythms are instantly recognizable. Quartet is performing original improvised/composed music which defies any classification or definition. The apt set-up of the trio (drums-reeds-voice-bass) and interplay of the four bright and distinct personalities yield striking individuality and freshness of musical expression. After the first concert in St. Johns Church Andrė, Liudas and Vytis met only February 26, 2005 in the Concert Hall of Musical Academy in Vilnius, although two of them --- Andrė and Vytis --- prepared the entire program for "TUDENGIJAZZ/STUDENT JAZZ--2005" Festival in Tallinn, Estonia and performed it in Vilnius (2005.02.09) too. 2005.03.19.Andrė, Liudas and Vytis , with guest drummer Arkadijus Gotesmanas, gave a wonderful concert in Birštonas. July 15 Trio performed a totally new program, almost exclusively of own compositions. Fall 2006 the Quartet released their first CD "Saga".

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JOINT PROJECT WITH "JAUNA MUZIKA" CHAMBER CHOIR

This spring Quartet continued the tradition of annual April Fool's Day concerts, this time with the "Jauna Muzika" Choir (conductor V. Augustinas). After several academic vocal works performed by choir and alternating with the pieces from the Saga repertoire, both ensembles joined their forces for the final composition climaxing in the energetic and youthful improvization by Andrė.

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2006.09.25.

PRESENTATION OF CD "SAGA" AT COMPOSER'S UNION

The lovely eventide of lukewarm St.Martin's summer... Just after the sunset we gather at a cozy concert hall to hear this Quartet. Some pieces old, some pieces new,--- but they all are always re-created and re-lived anew, filled with energy and emotion. And we take this. Also we take new CD's. Although their sleeves are dark and brown, we know that the entire colourful spaces of inner worlds and eerie iridescences of empathies and feelings are looming within. After a brief soirée we go out into the night but not home yet. We wander through dark woods and know that our lives have just became more--- Video files of the event

From the sleeve-notes written by Marc Sarrazy:

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2005

Various concerts by Quartet or its members

November 2005 and May 2006 members of Quartet (save Liudas) took part in two multi-art projects together with dancer and choreographer Lora Juodkaitė. They are reviewed at "Projects with Lora" page.

Saga Quartet together with V. Chekasin performed at "Jazz Voices -- 2005" festival in Moscow. This December 3 concert is overviewed at "Projects with Chekasin" page.

15 July program included mostly original compositions, this time quite a few of them has been written by Liudas. This time Andrė débuted as jazz instrumentalist as well. She played piano and a set of several odd-looking syringes or pennywhistles.

19 March concert in Birštonas included original compositions and improvizations over jazz standards. This time, percussionist Arkadij Gottesman has played with Andrė, Liudas and Vytis.

Concert for duo (Vilnius -- Tallinn) has been performed twice: 09 and 12 February. It consisted of avant-garde improvisatory compositions, prepared for TudengiJazz Festival in Tallinn.

Photo Impressions: