NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Iona Preparatory School senior Bernardas Garbacauskas has long had visions of performing on the grandest stages. This Saturday his dream will become a reality.
An 18-year-old baritone who began singing as a youngster and attained star status in his native Lithuania, he will take the stage for a solo recital at The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center’s Morse Hall beginning at 4 p.m.
“God knows how much I have been dreaming about this honor to perform one day right at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,” said Garbacauskas, who will be graduating from the Juilliard Pre-College Division. “I will be sharing my love for music, spring, culture and art!”
Garbacauskas will perform works from world-famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. He’ll sing selections in English, French, Italian, German and Lithuanian.
He came to Iona Prep in 2015 and lives with a host family in Rye; his parents remain in Lithuania, where his mother is a Catholic school principal and his father is an infrastructure specialist for a hospital. Garbacauskas previously trained vocally at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre in Germany, where he also took piano lessons and studied dance and German music theory.
The Juilliard Pre-College Division is a program for students of elementary through high school age who exhibit the talent, potential and accomplishment to pursue a career in music. Garbacauskas’ recital is one of many scheduled for Pre-College students Saturday at Morse Hall. The recital is free and open to the public.