Spaudos centras
Spaudos centras
One of the most anticipated, sought-after and perhaps the most important Lithuanian classical music events, the 29th Vilnius Festival, will take place this year from 30 May to 20 June, with a concert on 20 August as its symbolic post scriptum. Among the international celebrities expected are violin notables Christian Tetzlaff, Janine Jansen and the Camerata Salzburg Orchestra, the Early Music Chamber Orchestra Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, piano legend András Schiff, world opera star Joseph Calleja, Maestra Keri-Lynn Wilson and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, and many others. We will also see some of Lithuania’s most famous performers and orchestras.
“Since the very first Vilnius Festival, its main idea has been to promote the historical and modern values of world culture in society. The cooperation between Lithuanian and foreign musicians promotes the creation of a multicultural music scene in Lithuania, tolerance and trust between artists and society, and the search for and support of new artistic forces. Since the very beginning of the Vilnius Festival, we have been committed to one of its goals, promotion of our country’s musical culture in the world, and we try to keep the standard of the festival’s programme high and to present the best musicians, ensembles, and works,” says the festival’s director Rūta Prusevičienė.
This year’s festival is organised by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and PI Vilnius Festivals. According to Remigijus Merkelys, the head of the latter institution, over the years the Vilnius Festival has patently enriched the country’s musical life and contributed to the development of cultural tourism. Thanks to this festival, our capital can be proud of the concerts of world-famous performers, spreading the word about the vibrancy of Lithuanian culture, high artistic ambitions, and packed concert halls. Therefore, the Vilnius Festival is highly visible in the overall context of the Vilnius Festivals, ensuring a solid cultural life of our country.
According to the organisers, this year’s festival will bring together some of the brightest stars from abroad, will feature the best performers from our own country, and will present well-known music as well as music that is not yet known or rarely heard.
On 30 May, the festival will open with the programme The Great Romantics. Works by Johannes Brahms and Jean Sibelius will be performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), led by Georgian conducted Mirian Khukhunaishvili, with violin soloist Christian Tetzlaff.
On 1 June, the festival will feature German guests Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, an Early Music Chamber Orchestra, and Georg Kallweit (baroque violin). On 4 June, Mūza Rubackytė will give a piano recital. On 6 June, Maurice Ravel’s music feast will be presented by the LNSO, conductor and pianist Victorien Vanoosten and soloist Gabrielė Bukinė (soprano). On 7 June, the programme Visions of Čiurlionis and Mendelssohn will be a delight for all with violin star Janine Jansen and the famous Camerata Salzburg Orchestra. On 11 June, piano legend Sir András Schiff will give his first concert in Lithuania.
On 13 June, on the eve of the Day of Mourning and Hope, the programme Invocations of Faith and Hope will be performed by the LNSO, the Kaunas State Choir, the narrator Darius Meškauskas and the conductor Robertas Šervenikas, with projected opuses by Onutė Narbutaitė and Algirdas Martinaitis. On 15 June, virtuosos from Taiwan will salute Vilnius at the festival. On 18 June, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, violinist and conductor Sergej Krylov, and the pianist Andrius Žlabys, always anticipated in Lithuania, will come together for a programme with the intriguing title Dispute Between J.S. Bach and A. Žlabys. This time the pianist will also introduce himself as a composer.
The culmination of the festival is scheduled for 20 June, when the LNSO conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas will share the stage with Joseph Calleja, the world’s opera star. And the spectacular postlude, or post scriptum, of the festival will be the concert Slava Ukraini! on 20 August, featuring the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson and soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen.
Ten festival concerts will take place in the Concert Hall of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and one in the Church of St. Casimir in Vilnius (admission to the former is free). All concerts are announced on the website www.nationalphilharmonic.lt Tickets for festival concerts on 7–11 May are 20% discounted (except for the lowest price category) – get your tickets at a better price!
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VILNIUS FESTIVAL 2025
29-th festival
May 30 – June 20*, 2025 / *Post scriptum – August 20
May 30, Friday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
The Great Romantics. Christian Tetzlaff and the LNSO Interpret Brahms and Sibelius
LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
Soloist CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF (violin, Germany)
Conductor MIRIAN KHUKHUNAISHVILI (Georgia)
Programme: JOHANNES BRAHMS – Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major, Op. 77; JEAN SIBELIUS – Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
June 1, Saturday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
European Baroque Journey. “Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin”, Georg Kallweit
AKADEMIE FÜR ALTE MUSIK BERLIN Early Music Chamber Orchestra (Germany)
Soloist and concertmasterGEORG KALLWEIT (baroque violin, Germany)
Programme: FRANCESCO MARIA VERACINI – Overture No. 6 in G minor for two oboes, bassoon, string orchestra and basso continuo; TARQUINIO MERULA – Canzona No. 4, Op. 12, La treccia (The Braid) for two violins and basso continuo; GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL – Concerto grosso for two violins, cello and string orchestra No. 1 in G major, Op. 6, HWV 319; JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – Concerto for violin, orchestra and basso continuo No. 2 in E major, BWV 1042; ANTONIO VIVALDI – Concerto for two oboes, strings and basso continuo in D minor, RV 353; JOHANN VALENTIN MEDER – Chaconne in C major for two solo instruments and basso continuo; GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN – Suite for string orchestra and basso continuo No. 6 in G minor La Musette, TWV 55:g1; FRANCESCO GEMINIANI – Concerto grosso No. 12 in D minor, H. 143 La Folia for two violins, string orchestra and basso continuo. Theme and variations after Arcangelo Corelli Violin sonata No. 12 in D minor, Op. 5 La Folia
June 4, Wednesday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Maestra Mūza Rubackytė. Vilnius to Venice
MŪZA RUBACKYTĖ (piano; Lithuania, France, Switzerland)
Programme: LEOPOLD GODOWSKY – Sonata in E minor, 1st mvt. – Allegro non troppo, ma appassionato; MIKALOJUS KONSTANTINAS ČIURLIONIS – Preludes: D minor (VL 239), D minor (VL 294, Ruduo/Autumn), F minor (VL 197); Nocturnes: C sharp minor (VL 183), F sharp minor (VL 178); FERENC LISZT – Venezia e Napoli (Venice & Naples), S. 162; RAMINTA ŠERKŠNYTĖ – Pasakalija (Passacaglia) for piano; FERENC LISZT – Sonata in B minor, S. 178
June 6, Friday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
French Horizons with Maurice Ravel. LNSO, Victorien Vanoosten, Gabrielė Bukinė
LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
Soloist and conductor VICTORIEN VANOOSTEN (piano, France)
Soloist GABRIELĖ BUKINĖ (soprano)
Programme: MAURICE RAVEL – Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.1, M. 57a; Concerto for piano and orchestra in G major, M. 83; Song cycle Shéhérazade for soprano and orchestra, M. 41; Bolero, M. 81
June 7, Saturday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Violin Star Janine Jansen and the Camerata Salzburg Orchestra. Visions of Čiurlionis and Mendelssohn
CAMERATA SALZBURG Orchestra (Austria)
Soloist JANINE JANSEN (violin, Netherlands)
Orchestra leader / concertmaster GREGORY AHSS (violin, Israel)
Programme: MIKALOJUS KONSTANTINAS ČIURLIONIS – String quartet in C minor (orchestra version by Vilhelmas Čepinskis); FELIX MENDELSSOHN – Concerto for violin and orchestra in E minor, Op. 64; Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107 (Reformation); The concert is partly funded by the Ministry of Culture’s Professional Art Promotion Programme
June 11, Wednesday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Piano Legend Sir András Schiff Interprets the Classics
Sir ANDRÁS SCHIFF (piano, United Kingdom)
Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert
June 13, Friday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Invocations of Faith and Hope. LNSO, KVCH, Robertas Šervenikas, Darius Meškauskas
LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
KAUNAS STATE CHOIR (artistic director and principal conductor Robertas Šervenikas)
DARIUS MEŠKAUSKAS (narrator)
Conductor ROBERTAS ŠERVENIKAS
Programme:ONUTĖ NARBUTAITĖ – A Melody in the Garden of Olives (Melodija Alyvų sode) for symphony orchestra (Symphony No. 2, Part 2 – A Melody); ALGIRDAS MARTINAITIS – Oratorio Tikėjimo ir vilties invokacijos (Invocations of Faith and Hope) (liturgical, Freedom Struggle Archive, Maironis, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas and composer’s texts)
June 15, Sunday, 19.00, Church of St. Casimir
Virtuosos from Taiwan Salute Vilnius
TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC CHAMBER ENSEMBLE:
HAO-TUN TENG (violin, leader of the ensemble), ZHI-HUI LIN (violin), JUBEL CHEN (viola), YI-SHIEN LIEN (cello), SHANNON SHUEN CHIEH (harp), MAY-LIN JU (clarinet)
Programme: FRANZ POENITZ – Capriccio, Op. 73 for clarinet and harp; JUOZAS NAUJALIS – Dream for string quartet; YUAN-CHEN LI – Tao of Meinong for string quartet and clarinet; CHING-MEI LIN – Enchanted Forest Whispers for string quartet and harp; YU-HSIEN TENG – April Rain for string quartet (arranged by Ting-Chuan Chen)
Free admission
Concert organised in cooperation with PI “Religious Music Centre”. Partner of the concert – The Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania
June 18, Wednesday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Dispute Between J.S. Bach and A. Žlabys. LCO, Sergej Krylov, Andrius Žlabys
LITHUANIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Artistic director, soloist and conductor SERGEJ KRYLOV (violin)
Soloist ANDRIUS ŽLABYS (piano)
Programme: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050; Concerto for keyboard and orchestra No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052; GIUSEPPE TARTINI – Sonata for violin and piano in G minor, B. g5 (Devil’s Trill, arrangement for orchestra by Hugo Kauder); ANDRIUS ŽLABYS – Movement for Strings and Piano
June 20, Friday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
Star of the World opera Stages Joseph Calleja, LNSO, Modestas Pitrėnas
LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
Soloist JOSEPH CALLEJA (tenor, Malta)
Conductor MODESTAS PITRĖNAS
Works byGiacomo Puccini, Antonín Dvořák, Jules Massenet, Joaquín Rodrigo, Joseph Vella, Georg Friedrich Händel, Francesco Paolo Tosti
August 20, Wednesday, 19.00, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall
SLAVA UKRAINI! Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Rachel Willis-Sørensen
UKRAINIAN FREEDOM ORCHESTRA
Soloist RACHEL WILLIS-SØRENSEN (soprano, USA)
Conductor KERI-LYNN WILSON (Canada, USA)
Programme: MAXIM KOLOMIIETS – Suite from the opera The Mothers of Kherson (premiere); RICHARD WAGNER – Prelude and Liebestod from the opera Tristan und Isolde; LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Symphony No. 5 in C minor (Schicksalssinfonie/Fate), Op. 67
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Festival organisers: the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, PI Vilnius Festivals
Festival sponsors: the Vilnius City Municipality, Juozas and Laima Magelinskas, Artis Centrum Hotels
Tickets: Kakava.lt / www.nationalphilharmonic.lt