Yesterday, the sounds of music spread in the Bernardine Garden announced the 29th Kristupas Festival, which will start next week. Almost all the performers of this year's festival will present themselves live for the first time to Lithuanian music lovers, music fans and listeners thirsty for new, original musical sensations. The unifying theme of the program is identity.
"We wanted to look at the social and cultural context, to see if we are sensitive or tolerant of other cultures, so the main festival program includes a wide range of styles and genres, which will be further diversified by the extremely strong, bright personalities of the performers," said the festival's director at the musical picnic in Bernardinų Garden. art director Jurgita Murauskienė.
Kristupas Festival, which has been awarded the international quality mark "EFFE Label", will start on June 27 with a French jazz picnic in the Bernardine garden and a solemn concert "NATO while waiting for the summit" St. Kazimierz Church. Throughout the summer, the festival will share the sounds of world music with the citizens and guests of Vilnius.
On August 2, the Portuguese singer and composer, the woman who managed to reveal the "Secret of Eurovision", Luisa Sobral, will appear in the yard of A. Mickevičius library. Her program will feature songs from her latest chart-topping album DanSando, which has become hugely popular in Portugal. His songs are dominated by themes of human rights and social equality. "Of course, it's hard for us to understand the lyrics, and the music sounds so light that you don't even suspect what strong themes the artist touches on. Music critics claim that this is the strength of L. Sobral's work," said J. Murauskienė, the head of the festival, introducing the artist.
On August 3, the Bosnian singer, dancer and style icon Božo Vrećo, who rewrites Balkan folk music and gender norms, will perform for the first time in Lithuania. Born as a man and a woman, he lives as a free man and a creator who has breathed new life into the traditional sevdah (also called sevdalinka) on the international stage. The documentary film "Maldita, a love song to Sarajevo" about the charismatic artist was nominated for the prestigious award of the Spanish Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences Goya in the category of short documentary films, and this year won the audience award for the best short film at the Formentera Film Festival.
"Please don't miss this, if someone locks you in the house, climb through the window," the artistic director of the festival joked freely at the picnic, presenting her most beautiful voices to Vilnius St. Donating in St. Catherine's Church on July 24 a capella the early music group from Great Britain "The Gesualdo Six". - These artists were recommended to us by Edgar Montvid. As soon as I heard them, I had an extraordinary feeling - six men singing as one. Jewel precision, musicality, phrasing. I'll use one listener's feedback that really resonated with me, "it feels like you're diving in a pool of light." The collective adapts phenomenally to each concert space - preparing for the show for two to three hours to get the acoustics and understand how they need to sing to fill every molecule of the space. Completely pure sound without any technical intervention. I have no doubt that it will be a wonderful British greeting to Vilnius on the occasion of its 700th anniversary."
Another performer that the manager of the Kristupas festival suggested to pay attention to is the blues rock siren Gaby Moreno, who will be performing at the A. Mickevičius library on August 9. A Guatemalan immigrant, the only Latin American woman to win the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Having sung with Andrea Bocelli, Bono, Tracy Chapman and other famous artists, she is increasingly discovering herself as a producer and creator. Gaby's music is featured in popular series and cartoons. "Interestingly, the artist does not give up any of her languages (Spanish and English) while singing spanish cocktail", says J. Murauskienė.
Together with the "sic itur ad astra (siaa)" foundation of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the festival organizes young opera talents in Vilnius Old Theater a concert. In it, like colorful confetti, more beautiful arias will fly into the hall, performed by performers under the patronage of the foundation, laureates of international competitions. "The foundation gives young performers the opportunity to perform on good stages, with good orchestras, guides young talents on a professional path, and helps them advance their careers. It is nice that there are even several Lithuanians among the scholarship holders - Sandra Šarkovaitė, Šarūnas Šapalas, Mindaugas Jankauskas and Eglė Wyss. In this concert, they will perform with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and fellow performers from Australia, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
Musical picnics in the Bernardin Garden will welcome listeners every evening from June 27. "For the picnics this year, we chose artists who would share their author's creations," said J. Murauskienė, the festival's artistic director. – Multi-instrumentalist Vytenis Danielius, composer and musician Leonardas Bēkša, performers and songwriters Petunija, Liuce, group "U'Elements", Polish pianist Zuzanna Pietrzak will perform in the city garden. One picnic is special: for all the littlest picnickers and friendly for children with autism spectrum disorder. Adapting the format in such a way that it is inclusive for all comers is greatly helped by cooperation with the representatives of the association "Kids of the Rain". We want the idea of art accessibility to be more than just words, so we organize musical picnics for citizens in democratic spaces. Entrance to them is free. This series of concerts, like other Kristupas Festival concerts, is partially supported by the Lithuanian Culture Council and Vilnius city municipality. "
The biggest and oldest concert cycle of the Kristupas Festival "Hours of Sacred Music" was presented by artistic director Renata Marcinkutė Lesieur in the Bernardine Garden. Concerts will be held in Vilnius St. Casimir's Church, which boasts a neo-baroque Oberlinger organ.
"This year's highlight is that each performer of the concert series will include a piece dedicated to Vilnius in their performance. Listeners will have a unique opportunity to hear how and what the capital sounds like to our musicians and foreign artists. Exclusive, which will delight the premieres concert waiting for August 22. The performance is dedicated to the Baltic Way, in which the American organist James D. Hicks, who is visiting Lithuania for the first time, will perform a program of the Baltic countries, in which Vidos Pinkevičius' "Lithuanian Folk Suite" will be played, the organist also commissioned a piece to be written by the composer Žibuoklei Martinaityta, so we are very much looking forward to the world premieres. The patron of the concert series has been the Kazickas family foundation for many years, thanks to which the entrance to all concerts of the series is free", R. Marcinkutė Lesieur is happy.
Kristupa's summer festival will take place from June 27 to September 5 in Bernardin Park in Vilnius, in the courtyard of the History House, in the courtyard of the A. Mickevičius Library, in the old theater of Vilnius.
