"Today, when the world is increasingly choosing different sides of the barricades, when division is becoming more pronounced, sincere conversation is becoming one of the greatest values. Dialogue gives rise to understanding, allows us to build bridges between different experiences, and creates a space to hear and be heard," says Jurgita Murauskienė, director of the Vilnius Kristup Summer Festival.
The 31st International Music Festival enters the summer and its new decade with the theme of "Dialogues." The festival features more than 30 performances.
""Music is much more than sounds. It is stories, experiences, and feelings that unfold through the interaction of creators, listeners, different cultures, traditions, and eras. We want the listener to experience music as a dialogue - lively, dynamic, and engaging," says festival director J. Murauskienė, introducing this year's theme.
She has no doubt that music is a special form of dialogue - the origin, history, status, or attitude of the interlocutors are irrelevant, because music speaks directly to the heart, connecting people through sound.
"This year's musical meetings are a dialogue between cultures, genres, eras, and even different artistic languages. With some works, we look at the future in a new way, with others, we connect what seems unattainable," reveals J. Murauskienė.
Festival kicks off in memory of organ patriarch
The St. Christopher Festival, awarded the international quality mark "EFFE Label", will begin on July 1 with a sensitive dedication to the patriarch of Lithuanian organ music, Prof. Leopoldas Digris, who passed away at the beginning of the year.
The concert will feature one of his most beloved compositions – Francis Poulenc’s “Concert for organ, strings and timpani in G minor". The piece will be performed by the Maestro's long-time companion, Renata Marcinkutė Lesieur, together with the chamber music ensemble "Musica Humana", conducted by Robertas Beinaris.
The festival will end on September 9 with a look at the work of MK Čiurlionis, which has become a source of inspiration for many contemporary musicians.
As every year, the largest and oldest concert series of the St. Christopher Festival, "Hours of Sacred Music", will delight its loyal listeners. The free concerts will take place in Vilnius' St. Casimir's Church, which boasts a neo-Baroque Oberlinger organ. The concerts in the series are donated to the listeners by the Kazickas Family Foundation.
In the Bernardine Garden – musical friendship between Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine
"Christ's Picnics" are cozy evenings in the Bernardine Garden, returning music to its historical place. It was here in the 19th century that the melodies of a military orchestra echoed, a summer theater operated, and Vilnius residents gathered to rest, hang out, chat, and listen to music in the shade of green trees.
In cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius and the Polish Institute in Vilnius, this year's concert series is dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the Lublin Triangle: the partnership between Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.
The traditional Christopher Festival musical picnics welcome listeners every evening from July 7. Picnickers will be able to listen to the concerts for free – the musical picnic series, like other Christopher Festival concerts, is partially supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius city municipality.
St. Christopher's Picnics will be opened by Zuzanna Sejbuk, a talented young Polish pianist and Chopin music enthusiast. The performer will immerse the audience in the rhythm of waltzes, graceful mazurka figures, and the tranquility of a nocturne.
The five concerts of the cycle will feature the music of Bill Evans, often described as lyrical jazz, performed by pianist Vytautas Straižis, melodies selected by Polish chamber music celebrities – the duo of Karolina Mikołajczyk and Iwo Jedyneckis, and Ukrainian folk songs played on the bandura by Alla Cheres, a Ukrainian living in Vilnius.
"Christopher's Picnics is another dialogue that invites us to experience the unity of countries through music," says festival director J. Murauskienė.
Major concerts - conversations between continents, styles, eras, and festivals
The main festival program will begin on July 21 at St. Catherine's Church. The famous Belgian Huelgas Ensemble, led by the legendary Paul Van Nevel, will appear for the first time at the "Christopher Festival". For more than five decades, this group has been shaping the understanding of how early music should sound, carefully researching sources, reconstructing sounds and conveying them with astonishing precision.
The premiere program at St. Catherine's Church on July 24 will be presented and the pianist's role will be debuted by composer and conductor Gediminas Gelgotas, the Paris fiesta will be organized by the duo "Perfect Nemesis" on July 28, and the extravagant Aksel Kolstad from Norway will invite you to a piano recital on July 29… for a laugh. An emotionally strong blues evening is promised by Bai Kamara Jr. on July 30.
On the last evening of July, the festival concerts will move to the courtyard of the A. Mickiewicz Library. The Kristupas Festival concerts will begin here with an incredibly cozy dialogue between a brother and sister - Luisa and Salvador Sobral are returning to Vilnius. Their joint concerts are a real rarity!
On August 5, "Kristupos Festivalis" and "Vilnius Jazz" will perform in the courtyard of A. Mickevičius. "Open Air Jazz" is an exclusive project prepared by the Dainius Pulauskas group. The concert will feature not only the original work of this well-known jazz pianist, but also the legendary music of Polish composer Krzysztof Komeda.
On the evening of August 7, the courtyard of the A. Mickevičius Library will be filled with Spanish rhythms. “Flamenco Non Troppo” is more than a musical project, says the ensemble’s guitarist Carlos Pinana. “It is an idea born from a long-standing desire to combine two musical styles that are very dear to me: flamenco, which I grew up with, and classical Spanish music, which inspires me. In this project, I aim to show that flamenco can be not only passion, rhythm and expression, but also subtlety, elegance, aesthetics, which unfold so beautifully in the classics. Working with Mamen Baños and Guillermo Ojados – two exceptional dancers, I can confidently say that flamenco is not only music or movement. It is a language that speaks through the synthesis of body and music. Their dance gives an additional dimension to each phrase of the melody and different rhythms.”
On the evening of August 8th, the Kristupos Festival will dedicate the evening to the legend of Lithuanian pop music – Stasis Povilaitis. The maestro's golden songs will be performed by Liudas Mikalauskas and Egidijus Bavikinas.
On August 14, classical music fans gathered at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic will be treated to a series of opera arias by six soloists, each more beautiful than the last. They will take to the stage accompanied by their dream partner – the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, led by charismatic conductor Modestas Pitrėnas.
The St. Christopher Summer Festival will take place from July 1 to September 9 in Vilnius' Bernardine Park, in the courtyard of the A. Mickevičius Library, in the churches of St. Casimir and St. Catherine, and in the Lithuanian National Philharmonic.
