This Thursday, May 7, the third edition of the international Vilnius Spring Festival begins in Vilnius at the National Gallery of Art. Initiated by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, this year’s festival invites audiences to a programme inspired by Nordic music, where different traditions, contemporary experimentation, and living creative energy come together.

The festival opens with a distinctive premiere — the concert ArtDeCounterPoint, bringing together brothers Motiejus, Mykolas, and Benediktas Bazaras on stage with the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and conductor Modestas Barkauskas. Created especially for the festival, the programme marks a new creative phase — music born in an intense process and heard for the first time in a live encounter with the audience.

“In our view, a piece is not finished until it reaches the stage. It is here that music takes on its true form,” say the Bazaras brothers. Their programme balances clear structure with the freedom of improvisation — while part of the music is precisely composed, live performance opens space for unpredictability. “Risk is the main engine of creation,” the artists note, emphasizing that in their work improvisation is not randomness, but a conscious creative state.

In ArtDeCounterPoint, not only the ideas of three musicians meet, but a broader artistic field — different musical languages, periods, and even disciplines. Working together with the orchestra, the brothers expand their musical spectrum, exploring new forms of sound and collective energy. “It is a constant dialogue — between musical worlds, between structure and freedom, between the individual voice and the collective sound,” they explain.

Following the opening concert, the festival will continue throughout May with three more exceptional evenings. On May 14, the Danish trio Dreamers’ Circus — among the leading voices of contemporary Nordic music, blending folk, classical, and jazz — will perform in Lithuania for the first time. On May 21, audiences will hear the concert If We Were to Return by composer Laimis Vilkončius, dedicated to Vilnius and its musical narrative. The festival will conclude on May 28 with the Swedish vocal quartet Ringmasters and their anniversary programme 20 Years Good Vibrations.

All festival concerts will take place at the National Gallery of Art. The festival is organized by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra.
More information: springfestival.lt