VILNIUS FESTIVAL 2026
30th festival
5–25 June 2026

Vilnius Festival 2026 programme
Vilnius Festival 2026 booklet

During the month of June, the Vilnius Festival will fill the capital’s Old Town with Classical music. We can confidently say that this is one of the most important events in our country, a tradition that has been nurtured over three decades, and which has made Vilnius a prominent destination on the musical map of Europe. The Vilnius Festival is a lesson in tolerance, trust and creative collaboration. It is a time when premières of works by contemporary Lithuanian composers take place, when masterpieces of the world’s Classical repertoire are performed, and when close interaction with foreign diplomatic missions transforms into a vibrant cultural exchange.

Ever since 1997, when the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society laid the foundations for the festival, its mission has remained unchanged: to preserve historic cultural values, and boldly present contemporary works. Over the years, musical legends such as Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich and Riccardo Muti have left their mark on the festival’s history. Today, the event is not only a prestigious member of the European Festivals Association, but also a vital engine of cultural tourism. Over three decades, Vilnius and the Vilnius Festival have reestablished ties with European cultural centres, and brought our performers and audiences closer to the most important events in the performing arts.

From 5 to 25 June, the Vilnius Festival once again invites us to meet musicians of the highest calibre. This year’s programme is a skillfully curated mosaic of ten concerts, featuring both majestic symphonic canvases and intimate works of chamber music.

The festival will open with a strong programme, featuring the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas, and the accordion virtuoso Martynas Levickis. The grandeur of the organ under the vaults of the Church of St Casimir will be showcased by Professor Olivier Latry, an organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Solidarity and hope will be extended by the conductor Oksana Lyniv and the pianist Dmytro Choni, our guests from Ukraine, who will perform with the LNSO, as well as the pianist Mūza Rubackytė, with the conceptual programme ‘Faith, Hope, Love’, joined by the Kaunas State Choir led by Robertas Šervenikas. The countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen from the USA, and the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the maestro Hossein Pishkar, who comes from Iran and has been based in Düsseldorf in Germany since his studies there, invite the audience to enjoy masterpieces of Baroque music. The pianist and composer Andrius Žlabys and the Vilnius String Quartet will delight their audience with the subtleties of chamber music. The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, its artistic director, violinist and conductor Sergej Krylov, the tenor Ian Bostridge, the French horn player Ben Goldscheider, and the Giunter Percussion ensemble, invite us to listen to serenades that are incredibly well-suited for June evenings. The duo of the brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen from the Netherlands will enchant audiences with their remarkable technical precision and fresh interpretation of the Classical repertoire: they will perform both on their own and with the LNSO, conducted by Andrzej Boreyko, with the participation of the State Choir ‘Vilnius’. The festival’s closing programme ‘All Roads Lead to Vilnius’ will bring together the LNSO, the LCO, the NICO ensemble, the composer and conductor Gediminas Gelgotas, and the pianist and composer Francesco Tristano. Thus, in June, Vilnius will become the country’s premier venue for Classical music. We invite festival-goers not only to hear world-famous stars, but also to experience the vibrant pulse of Lithuanian culture.

Rūta Prusevičienė,
Director of the Vilnius Festival

Organisers of the Festival                                 Sponsor of the Festival                Partner of the Festival