Having welcomed 2026 with cheerful New Year’s concerts, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society invites to continue enjoying its 85th concert season – on January 7 and 10, the audience will be presented with special first concerts of the year. On January 7, the programme Songs of Benjaminas Gorbulskis and His Contemporaries will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, and on January 10, the orchestral music concert Magnificence and Passion will feature the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, clarinettist Roeland Hendrikx and conductor Vilmantas Kaliūnas.

The year 2025 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjaminas Gorbulskis, a renowned composer, genius of pop music, and unique figure in 20th-century Lithuanian culture. “He never served anyone but music. He composed it and lived off it. So, he was a free artist. In those days, that was a rarity. But he worked harder than anyone else. This was evidenced by his worn-out middle finger, which had been ‘harmed’ while writing and rewriting hundreds of pages of notes,” wrote musicologist Irena Mikšytė, an author of lyrics of several of Gorbulskis’ first songs. The composer’s work is uninhibited, spontaneous, and free. Among the abundance of works in various genres (musicals, operettas, instrumental concertos, music for theatre, cinema, etc.), songs occupy a special place – there are over 600 of them! After the war, Gorbulskis was the first in Lithuania to start writing pop songs, which were performed as masterful works not only by pop stars of the time, but also rising opera stars – Virgilijus Noreika, Eduardas Kaniava, Rimantas Siparis, Romanas Marijošius, Nijolė Ambrazaitytė, and others, often accompanied by choirs and symphony orchestras. A person of exceptional charm and talent, Gorbulskis once expressed his intentions for writing songs as follows: ”To make it easier, better, and happier for people to live on earth, so that they smile more often.”

On Wednesday, January 7, at 19.00, composer and performer Artūras Novikas and his jazz school’s vocal ensemble Jazz Island invite to pay tribute to Gorbulskis’ talent and, in the words of the evening’s hero, ‘smile’. It is a professional group of young people, winners of various competitions, representing Lithuania around the world. The concert will feature the composition Bosas kviečia šokti (The Boss Invites You to Dance), the songs: Dar anksti (It’s Still Early), Jurga, Jurgita, Mėlynos gatvelės (Blue Streets), Oi, motinėle! (Oh, Mother!) and others.

A concert of completely different genre awaits the audience on Saturday, January 10, at 19.00 – the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra will invite to experience the magnificence and passion of classical music. Maestro Vilmantas Kaliūnas, a conductor living in Germany and often conducting Lithuanian ensembles, will grace the podium.

“Christoph Willibald Gluck’s rhythmically frenzied Dance of the Furies from the opera Orfeo ed Eurydice (Orpheus and Euridice) burst forth like a hellish whirlwind and draws the listener into a powerful emotional atmosphere,” says the programme’s deviser, conductor Kaliūnas. “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A major, KV 622, is his last instrumental concerto, marked by the lyricism, grace, and depth; the famous Adagio, one of the most famous examples of lyricism of Mozart’s late period, is particularly charming. Robert Schumann’s Waldszenen (Forest Scenes) is a romantic stroll through an imaginary forest: these musical miniatures convey the mysteries and tranquillity of nature, as well as man’s inner experiences. Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No 49 in F minor, La Passione, is the dramatic and solemn finale to the concert programme: a synthesis of tension, emotional depth, and Baroque solemnity as well as the power and expression of early Classicism.”

Soloist, Belgian clarinet star Roeland Hendrikx will perform Mozart’s Concerto on an original basset clarinet, which has a unique sound. After many years as principal clarinettist with the National Orchestra of Belgium, Hendrikx began his solo career in 2017. An avid chamber musician, he has also formed his own ensemble.

For the full program of the LNPhS 85th season please visit www.nationalphilharmonic.lt  We invite you to take advantage of this season’s subscription and look forward to seeing you at the concerts! LNPhS 85th concert season is sponsored by NORFA.

LNPhS inf.