Vilnius Festival 2019
VILNIUS FESTIVAL 2019
23rd festival
Homo Ludens
3–21 June, 2019
Since in many languages the verb ‘to play’, spielen, grać, igrat, means both to play games and to play a musical instrument, we can understand why it is important to learn how to play games and make music at an early age. In his epic book Homo Ludens: The Play Element of Culture, the Dutch historian and philosopher Johan Huizinga discusses human culture, and suggests that playing is a vital and necessary condition for culture to flourish. It could be that playing and understanding rules consistently and firmly connects structures between people living and communicating with each other.
Not only have the oldest forms of collective play, such as sports, games and arts festivals, retained their essence and form, but they have also taken on a role as the best way of sharing physical and emotional energy. Today’s powerful trend around the world of ‘festivalisation’ finds a reflection in the impressive cultural fabric of Vilnius, where the Vilnius Festival and the municipal institution Vilniaus festivaliai, the generators of this process, ensure the continuous qualitative reconditioning of this fabric.
Therefore, we invite all ‘players’ of music to engage in playing musical meanings and experiences at the 23rd International Vilnius Festival!
Rūta Prusevičienė,
Director of the Vilnius Festival