For the 30th June, the Vilnius Festival will fill the capital’s Old Town with classical music. On June 5-25, one of the most anticipated festivals once again will invite to encounter musicians of the highest calibre. This year’s program is a masterful mosaic of ten concerts, featuring both majestic symphonic canvases and intimate chamber music performances. To mark the festival’s 30th anniversary, both its regular performers and guests visiting Vilnius for the first time will take the stage.
“We can confidently say that this is one of the most significant events in our country, a tradition nurtured over three decades that has made Vilnius a prominent destination on Europe’s musical map. The Vilnius Festival is a lesson in tolerance, trust, and creative collaboration; it is a place where premieres by contemporary Lithuanian composers take place, where masterpieces of the world’s classical repertoire are performed, and where close interaction with foreign diplomatic missions transforms into vibrant cultural exchange,” says Rūta Prusevičienė, director of the Vilnius Festival.
Ever since 1997, when the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society laid the foundation for this festival, its mission has remained unchanged: to preserve historical cultural values and boldly present contemporary works. Over the years, legends such as Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Riccardo Muti have left their mark in the festival’s history. Today, this 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 valuable events in the performing arts.
The 30th Vilnius Festival is organized by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and the PI Vilnius Festivals, with the Vilnius City Municipality serving as the festival’s main sponsor. “Sponsors and partners help spread the word about the festival and promote the name of Vilnius, while the festival’s high standards for concert quality guarantee its prestige and attract both audiences and musicians from Lithuania and abroad,” says Prusevičienė.
This year’s festival will open on June 5 at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall with a solid programme featuring the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas, and accordion expert Martynas Levickis. This will be a unique opportunity to learn about another role held by Modestas Pitrėnas, principal conductor and artistic director of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO): since 2018, the Maestro has also led the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra and will hand over these duties to Italian conductor Pietro Rizzo starting with the 2026/27 season. “I am delighted that we will be able to perform in Vilnius with the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, and I warmly invite everyone to the concert, where we will premiere Swiss composer Fabian Künzli’s soundscape So klingt St. Gallen (The Sound of St. Gallen) alongside Swedish composer Daniel Nelson’s powerful, rhythmically energetic concerto for accordion and orchestra The Ghost Machine Treatise, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth (Fate) Symphony,” says Pitrėnas.
On June 7, pianist and composer Andrius Žlabys and the Vilnius State Quartet will delight the festival audience with the subtleties of chamber music. The first half of the concert will be a piano recital featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. The second half will feature works by Žlabys himself, which the pianist will perform with the quartet: a new opus for piano and string quartet, as well as Movement for piano and strings, composed as a reaction to the events that began in Ukraine in 2014.
On June 10, American countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Hossein Pishkar, who hails from Iran and has been based in Düsseldorf, Germany, since his studies there, will invite audience to enjoy masterpieces of Baroque music.
The festival programme on June 11 will offer a free concert of sacred music. The grandeur of the organ under the vaults of the Church of St. Casimir will be showcased by Professor Olivier Latry, organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The concert will feature masterpieces of sacred music that have stood the test of time.
The 30th Vilnius Festival will be imbued with the ever-relevant theme of hope. Solidarity and hope will be extended by guests from Ukraine, conductor Oksana Lyniv and pianist Dmytro Choni, who will perform with the LNSO; as well as pianist Mūza Rubackytė with a conceptual programme Faith, Hope, Love, joined by the Kaunas State Choir led by Robertas Šervenikas. This programme, to be performed on June 14, will carry on the meaningful tradition of the Vilnius Festival: to remember and reflect on the Day of Mourning and Hope through music. At the 30th festival, June 14 will be commemorated on the stage of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic with masterpieces of sacred music for piano, as well as Ferenc Liszt’s unique opus Via Crucis (Die 14 Stationen des Kreuzwegs/14 Stations on the Way the Cross) for piano, choir, and soloists, a work rarely performed at Lithuanian concert venues.
On June 17, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, its artistic director, violinist and conductor Sergej Krylov, tenor Ian Bostridge, French horn player Ben Goldscheider, and the ensemble Giunter Percussion will invite to enjoy serenades that are incredibly suited for June evenings.
The duo of brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen from the Netherlands will delight audiences with their remarkable technical precision and fresh take on the classical repertoire, performing both as soloists (June 19) and with the LNSO (June 20), this time conducted by Andrzej Boreyko, with the participation of the Vilnius State Choir.
The 30th Vilnius Festival will conclude on June 25 with the programme All Roads Lead to Vilnius, featuring a powerful joint performance by the renowned Luxembourgish pianist and composer Francesco Tristano, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the ensemble NICO, and the Vilnius City Municipality Choir Jauna muzika; the concert will be conducted by the charismatic Gediminas Gelgotas, who will also be presented as a composer.
So, in June, Vilnius will become the country’s main venue for classical music. Nine of the festival’s concerts will take place in the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, and one will be held at the Church of St. Casimir in Vilnius (admission to this concert will be free). All festival concerts are listed on the website www.nationalphilharmonic.lt From May 12–17, a 20% discount applies to festival concert tickets – get your tickets at a lower price!
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