Vilnius Festival 2016
VILNIUS FESTIVAL 2016
20th festival
Path of the Planets
3–21 June, 2016
The Vilnius Festival salutes the listeners for twentieth time. Every summer it returns to present exceptional music events. Celebrating our twentieth anniversary we have no intention to look back however we cannot bypass those profound personalities who have chaperoned the Vilnius Festival since its inauguration and by sharing their brilliance helped to foster it to become a superb music celebration in Lithuania it is today.
Twenty years ago the Vilnius Festival was launched by Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich – then he led Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Yet another symbol of the Vilnius Festival is Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who appeared in the inaugural as well as later editions of the Vilnius Festival. This year we would have congratulated him on his hundredth birth anniversary. These coryphées weld present and past like an arch, I will never forget the joy of liaise with them and their humanism. In the twentieth Vilnius Festival we dedicate concerts to them. This is our tradition that we have carried on for a long time.
From its very beginning the Vilnius Festival sought to introduce the world’s foremost music personalities and collectives, new faces and works to Lithuanian audience. And this time we stay true to our aspiration. I am happy with all eleven concerts for each of them has its intrigue and charm. But I am especially delighted that we return to the key ideas, which had to be adhered to in our first Festivals: concerts presenting world stars, acclaimed symphony orchestra and the Vilnius Festival’s commission for a Lithuanian composer. I am grateful to everyone who played a part in the creation of the Vilnius Festival, as well as participated in and attended the concerts. I have no doubt that the twentieth Vilnius Festival will again be an exceptional music celebration.
Gintautas Kėvišas,
Director of the Vilnius Festival