Festivals
Vilnius, the capital city, is a leader in Lithuania by the number and variety of festivals held every year, offering much pleasure to the eyes and ears of lovers of classical and modern music, theatre- and cinema-goers, and fans of modern dances. Other Lithuanian towns also have cultural activities to offer. Especially many and diverse festivals are held in summertime. Jazz, rock, blues, alternative, and electronic music lovers will surely find one to their taste.
SONG CELEBRATION
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Originating in the end of the 19th century, today song festivals, huge festivities held every four years, bring together thousands of professional and amateur musicians, singers and dancers, from very young to old, from all over the world. The Festival has several layers: Folk Art Exhibition, Folklore Day, Ensemble Evening, Dance Day, and Song Day. The Folklore Day, which opens the Festival, brings together about 4,000 performers. It is traditionally held in the Sereikiškių Park. The Folk Art Exhibition features selected works of the best contemporary folk artists from all over Lithuania and items from the stocks of museums. The Ensemble Evening, an open-air concert of Lithuanian folk songs and dances to the music played with folk instruments, assembles about 3,000 performers on the stage in the Kalnų Park. Dance Days take place in the Žalgiris Stadium. This is a large-scale concert by dance groups of different ages, about 9,000 dancers in total. The final and the most impressive touch of the Festival is the Song Day, which is traditionally held in Vingis Park, on the open-air stage specially built for this purpose. About 15,000 singers in about 400 choirs – of children, youth, women, men and mixed – sing together on this day. In 2003, the UNESCO inscribed the traditions and symbols of song festivals of the Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – on the List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. |
SEA FESTIVAL
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The Sea Festival, held every year in the end of July in Klaipėda, is the largest summer festival in Lithuania. It continues three days and attracts over half a million of people, both local and from other countries – Germany, Estonia, Netherlands and many others. They listen to concerts, view exhibitions, watch and participate in colourful parades. The Festival shakes up the whole old town of Klaipėda and its central part – the Anikės Square, the Cruise Ship Terminal, the Jonas Hill. The events are often broadcast on the national and other Lithuanian TV stations and covered in foreign press. The first Sea Festival, also called the Day of the Sea, was celebrated on 12 August 1934 to popularise sea and promote seamanship and nautical professions. Today, the Sea Festival is also called the second or summer Christmas in Klaipėda. |
KAUNAS JAZZ
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This international festival has been taking place since 1991 in Kaunas, the second largest town of Lithuania. Originally, it was held in spring, but today concerts are given also in autumn and before Christmas. Kaunas Jazz features different styles and genres of jazz. Jazz groups and performers (such as Kurt Elling, Victor Wooten, Jan Garbarek, Bobby McFerrin) from over 20 countries have participated in the festival altogether. |
KLAIPĖDA CASTLE JAZZ FESTIVAL
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This international jazz festival is organised every summer for lovers of the so-called world music, jazz and light music, of different age and musical taste. The first Klaipėda Castle Jazz Festival was held in 1994. Its birth is associated with the Jazz Music Department of the Klaipėda University, which is a cradle of professional jazz and light music performers. This explains why this genre is so popular in Klaipėda and the whole Western Lithuania. The Klaipėda Castle was selected as a symbol and venue of the Festival with the aim to spread the message about reconstruction of the Castle that was started at that time. Today, concerts are always given in open-air spaces and are free, and celebrated guests of the Festival give lessons of excellence to students of the Klaipėda University. Together they also develop one joint project every year. |
VILNIUS FESTIVALS
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Vilnius Festivals is the alliance of ten largest and best festivals of culture and art held every year from early spring to late autumn. These are: Vilnius Festival (classical music), Sirens (theatre), Gaida (modern music), New Baltic Dance (modern dance), Christopher Summer Festival (classical music), Vilnius Mama Jazz (jazz music), Kino pavasaris (international film festival; literal translation – The Spring of Cinema), Banchetto Musicale (international festival of old music), Vilnius Jazz (international festival of modern jazz music), and Vilnius City Fiesta (a municipal open-air festival). All these festivals present the best performers and creators, orchestras, and theatre companies. |
ROCK NIGHTS
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The spirit, style and format of this Festival held every August are best reflected in its name. In addition to concerts by several tens of Lithuanian and foreign rock groups and individual performers, the Festival offers other entertainments for visitors: dancing, drawing, learning handicrafts, performing music themselves, relaxing in sauna and bubble bath, and many more. Therefore, you can definitely bring your family along. |
BLUES NIGHTS
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This is another festival with a name that tells a lot about it. Born in 1993, this international festival is always held on other first weekend of July and always in the same place – in Varniai by the Lūkštas Lake. The history of the Blues Nights started here, in a wooden shingle-roofed shed. Today, the shore of the Lūkštas Lake is transformed into a town of tents, reminding of the legendary rock festival in Woodstock, USA. During the Blues Nights, it is already customary to set up a firework show, to make the so-called “blues-soup” (fish soup), and arrange football, volleyball and basketball tournaments. |
STREET MUSIC DAY
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On the first Saturday in May thousands of people, professional musicians and amateurs, go out to the streets, yards, parks and squares to play music. Street Music must unite all who speak the world’s most universal language, the language of music – this was the idea of musician and actor Andrius Mamontovas, the initiator of the Festival. Armed with a variety of musical instruments, people play rock, classics, jazz, avant-garde and folklore and beat African rhythms. Lithuanians all over the world are invited to join in the festival. |
PAŽAISLIS MUSIC FESTIVAL
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Pažaislis Music Festival that has been held every summer since 1996 in Kaunas and other regions of Lithuania is equated to the best music festivals in Europe. It is unique in that it combines classical and old music and jazz, blues and popular music by contemporary composers of different countries, which sounds in the Pažaislis Monastery considered one of the best pieces of middle Baroque and in other sites of architectural and heritage value. Pažaislis Music Festival is also famous as a venue of first-night performances, featuring latest works of Lithuanian composers every year. Moreover, the Festival welcomes projects combining drama, dance, visual and fine arts. Many of the concerts are free. Since 2006, President Valdas Adamkus of the Republic of Lithuania has been the Patron of the Festival. |
EUROPEAN FILM FORUM "SCANORAMA"
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This European Film Forum has evolved from the Nordic Film Forum held in 2003 and is associated with other major film festivals of Nordic countries organised in Europe. Connecting Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda every November, Scanorama is highly valued for the artistic value of the films selected, for refusing to cater to bad taste and to go after commercial success. This is a festival of interesting ideas and discoveries, a kind of film bang that shakes the audience. Do not expect to see something you already know, but be prepared for the unexpected. Every year, the Scanorama has a dozen of different programmes on schedule, with over 100 films of different genres, contents and duration. The filmmaking workshop „Go Young Generation“ brings together future film professionals, who compete for the best and most catching short-feature film in the contest „New Baltic Film“. |
VILNIUS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "KINO PAVASARIS"
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Lovers of good films say jokingly they take at least a week’s leave every March to be able to see the films demonstrated at this Festival and meet participating Lithuanian and foreign celebrities, because off-work hours or weekends are not enough. The Festival is distinctive in that is has a large army of loyal fans who can hardly wait from one Festival to the next. The Festival’s geography is not limited to Vilnius: this two-week film demonstration project expands to Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai, attracting over 50,000 people and showing over 100 films every year. The Festival was born in 1995, in the legendary Cinema-House Lietuva. Now it is closed and films are not demonstrated here anymore, but many still remember it with nostalgia and associate the Festival with this particular cinema-house. |
MĖNUO JUODARAGIS
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This unique international festival, held every last summer weekend, is a tribute to the contemporary Baltic culture and alternative music. Literally translated as „Blackhorn Moon“, Mėnuo Juodaragis features pagan traditions, neo-folklore and post-modern avant-garde: here you will have a possibility to listen to music bands of Baltic and foreign countries, observe the old rituals, attend lectures and film demonstrations, watch performances, view exhibitions, learn traditional folk crafts, take part in interactive creative projects, dance, and play different games. And do it in the most beautiful natural setting! Since 1995, the Festival has been changing its venue every three years and lasts for three days. The Festival has a loyal horde of fans, who spread the infection of the Festival to their friends and family members. |
TEBŪNIE NAKTIS (LET THERE BE NIGHT)
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This city culture tradition came to Vilnius from other European capitals in 2007. It is one night every June when our capital does not sleep: squares are converted into dance schools under the stars and parks into large cinema halls on the grass, the river is decorated with installations and shining mazes, churches sound with classical, rock and organ music, narrow streets turn into theatres, balconies sing love songs, the night goes bright by hand-made torches, the air vibrates with poetry-reading and lullaby-singing, and museums open through the night lure visitors with musicals and animation. In 2009, about 100,000 people joined for the no-sleep night downtown. |
TUNDRA
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This festival of electronic music, held every July, attracts increasingly many performers of different genres and listeners from Lithuania and abroad. People are lured here no only by the musical programme of the Festival, but also by a wide choice of other entertainment and the possibility to spend a few days in nature at a lake and with like-minded people. |
VILNIUS FEJERIJA
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This international festival of fireworks attracts crowds of people every September. The centrepiece of this exciting show is an ocean of fireworks dancing to the music. The Festival also involves a competition among teams of professional pyrotechnicians from different countries. Winners are selected by a jury and spectators with equal number of votes. |
SATTA OUTSIDE
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Held every August since 2007, this festival of alternative music and art features ska, dub, funk, beats and dubstep genres. The Festival has chosen quite exciting venues – Smiltynė woods, lawns, beaches and the industrial shed of the local yacht club. Art workshops are installed next to the stages for music erected just for a few days. There, pre-defined ideas are realised and works of sculptors, painters and graffiti creators are presented. |
MADOS INFEKCIJA (FASHION INFECTION)
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Lithuania has not only music, theatre, dance or film festivals to offer. There is something also for those who are interested in fashion – it’s a fashion festival Mados Infekcija that has been staged every March since 1999 in Vilnius. The Festival brings together both professionals and start-ups in the business of fashion and is open and accessible for everybody willing to attend – all you need is to buy a ticket. It is not a traditional fashion week – it is much more flexible and goes outside the format characteristic of festivals of this type. But it has also something in common with fashion shows elsewhere in the world, in that it is a search for new talents and names – novice designers have a possibility to present their works on the same footing as professionals of the world of fashion. The festival was pioneered by designer Sandra Straukaitė. |
