August is the last month of the Pažaislis Music Festival, the largest celebration of classical music, and it will be crowned by 12 concerts in a variety of genres and styles. According to Edgars Montvidas, the artistic director of the festival, the mission of the festival is to introduce, as it were, to offer a tasting of various tastes of music, to invite to embark on a wide range of, perhaps unexpected, musical adventures. The last month of the festival is a great opportunity for such experiences.
The festival organisers remind you to plan your visit to the festival concerts well in advance, as tickets sell out quite quickly. Here’s a look at the August concerts that are still open. Full information and tickets at www.pazaislis.lt
August 3rd, 20:00
AYOM: South American and African rhythms
Babtynas Manor
AYOM is a group of six musicians united by their passion for traditional African and South American music. Each member brings with them a distinct history, whether Brazilian, Italian, Greek or Angolan, which fuses into a unique fusion of sounds. AYOM concerts are an experience that transcends language and brings people together as one community. This year, the band presented their new album “Sa.Li.Va”, the title of which reflects the three main impulses behind their music: “SA-grado” (sacredness), “LI-berdade” (freedom and love) and “VA-lentia” (courage). The Babtyn Manor stage will be filled with traditional rhythms such as semba, funaná, maracatu, kizomba, maloya and many others, conveying the vitality of different cultures.
August 7th, 18:00
GRAND TRIO VILNIUS: Geniušas, Kuznecovaitė, Geringas
Kaunas State Philharmonic
This exceptional concert will be performed by a trio of renowned musicians: the most famous Lithuanian pianist Petras Geniušas, the world-renowned cellist David Gering, and violinist Dalia Kuznecovaitė, who has performed on the biggest stages in Europe, Asia and America. Their programme reflects the finest aspects of the piano trio’s repertoire. The Loviisa Trio by the Finnish genius Jean Sibelius, not often heard in our concert halls. One of the last works by the Austrian Romantic genius Franz Schubert – Piano Trio No. 1. Anatoly Shenderov’s Song and Dance – a version for piano trio of David Göring’s David’s Song.
August 8th, 19:00
Viva la Diva!
Jonava Joninės Valley
On the festive evening of the 275th birthday of the town of Jonava, the Joninių valley will host a special programme prepared by the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Julius Geniušas, and three vocal goddesses, Ieva Prudnikovaitė, Ona Kolobovaitė and Evelina Sašenko. The well-known, one of the most prominent Lithuanian vocalists will perform with the orchestra the songs of legendary stage goddesses Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Madonna, Adele, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and others.
August 10th, 17:00
Italian Improvisations in the Old Manor Garden (concert with picnic)
Žemoji Panemunė Manor
The festival returns to the Žemoji Panemunė Manor, which was a hit with the public last year. This year, jazz will reign supreme with the Italian quartet Double Breath, one of whose members, Gianluca Littera, will be playing the lip armonica. This is a very unusual instrument for the big stage, brought to prestigious concert halls by this Italian virtuoso. He is one of the few soloists in the world to play classical, contemporary and jazz music on this instrument. Littera, who has already played in Lithuania many times and captured the hearts of the audience, will perform this time with his jazz quartet.
Before the concert, the Manor’s garden will be the venue for the big picnic of the year, “Lunch on the Grass: Le Grand Pique-Nique”, organised by One Frenchman’s Pantry and the bakery La Petite Patisserie.
August 13th, 18:00
Suite of the Globe
Star Hall at Kaunas Oak Grove Library
For the first time, the festival concert will take place in the Oak Grove Library, which has been reopened after reconstruction. The programme “Globe Suite” brings together Lithuanian performers living and working abroad and their common creative vision. This concert is a symbolic musical map, featuring compositions that reflect both the Lithuanian musical identity and the context of chamber music worldwide.
The musicians are active members of various chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Anastasija Avdeyeva, associate professor of piano at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, Martynas Šedbaras, solo bassoonist at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and Ugnius Dičiūnas, oboe concertmaster of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra.
August 15th, 15:00
THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION AT PAŽAISLIS
Pažaislis Monastery
Pažaislis Music Festival together with the Lithuanian Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Casimir invites you to celebrate the Feast of St. The Holy Family of St. Mary of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a traditional example of a beautiful collaboration between the monastery and the festival. As usual, the Feast of the Assumption in Pažaislis will be celebrated during Mass with the Kaunas State Choir conducted by Mindaugas Radzevičius.
August 17th, 17:00
Hymn of Life: Stories Across the Ages
Zapyškis Old St John the Baptist’s Church
Hymn of Life: Stories Across the Ages is a programme of an unusual trio featuring mainly Renaissance and Baroque hymns, songs, arias, duets and instrumental music. Listeners will hear music by John Dowland, George Frideric Handel, Andrea Falconieri and even the music of the LWL of the time. This music is characterised by its sophistication, splendour and extraordinary variety of genres, which is perhaps best revealed in a church setting.
The trio of performers includes baritone Nerijus Masevičius, a performer of early opera, contemporary and chamber music. Saulius S. Lipčius, a renowned guitarist and associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, will perform on the rare „Liuto forte“, a type of archlute. The musician will perform with his son Teodoras, who became famous when he sang the Lithuania’s national anthem when he was just two years old. Teodoras studies cello at the M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts.
August 23rd, 17:00
Sea in Radiant Colours
Zapyškis Old St John the Baptist’s Church
The concert programme is presented by Ensemble Antiphona, one of the most important choral music ensembles in the Toulouse region, led by Prof. Rolandas Muleika, and the piano duo of Sonata and Rokas Zubovas. It creates a multi-layered dialogue between France and Lithuania, Claude Debussy and M.K. Čiurlionis, piano and song, sound and colour, but also presents the world premiere of Nijolė Sinkevičiūtė’s 7 Reflections for choir and piano 4 hands (Ž. by Oskar Milašius).
Debussy’s “La mer“ (The Sea) and Čiurlionis’s “Jūra’ (The Sea) have never been combined in one concert programme, only in recent years this creative dialogue between the two Seas, through the efforts of the piano duo of S. and R. Zubovas, in the form of transcriptions for piano for four hands, has been performed on concert stages in various countries.
August 24th, 13:00
Celebrating Palestrina’s 500th Anniversary
Jieznas Church of St. Michael the Archangel and John the Baptist
In 2025, we celebrate the 500th birthday of one of the most influential composers in the history of music – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) was the Vatican’s leading composer during the Counter-Reformation, and his works were heard all over Europe, including Lithuania. Palestrina was a major influence on the Vasa court: three of his direct disciples, who composed music for the most important churches in Rome and the Vatican, worked as Kapellmeisters at the Vasa court from the end of the 16th century. Today’s musicologists argue that Palestrina’s music evolved in Lithuania through these pupils. We can safely say that Lithuania’s musical heritage would not be the same without Palestrina’s legacy.
Canto Fiorito, Lithuania’s most active early music ensemble, is celebrating this great anniversary with a series of eight concerts and a new programme featuring the music of Palestrina and his pupils who worked at the Vasa estate.
August 24th, 20:00
MARTYNAS LEVICKIS and Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Pažaislis Monastery
George Gershwin, a composer of incredible talent, and Martynas Levickis, an accordion virtuoso of extraordinary charisma, will meet on the stage of the Pažaislis Festival, accompanied by the much-loved Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra. The audience will hear a version of Rhapsody in Blue, arranged by Levickis himself and specially adapted for the accordion (the original version features a solo piano part), as well as excerpts from the French genius Georges Bizet’s Carmen Suite, which also features the accordion.
August 31st, 19:30
Closing Concert: opera TOSCA by Giacomo Puccini
Pažaislis Monastery
The 30th Pažaislis Festival will conclude its exceptional season with an equally exceptional work – Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, one of the five most frequently staged operas in the world. The final concert of the festival will also symbolically mark another special anniversary – the 50th anniversary of the festival’s artistic director E. Montvidas.
“Tosca is an opera that Puccini based on a drama by French playwright Victorien Sardou. Its vivid melodies, dramatic twists and tense atmosphere have made this work an integral part of the classical music repertoire.
The gala concert will feature outstanding Lithuanian and international opera soloists. They will be accompanied by the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir, and maestro Gintaras Rinkevičius will conduct the music festival.
Attention! All tickets for the final concert of the festival are sold out, but standing room tickets are still available.
