Music of Lithuania refers to all forms of music associated with Lithuania, which has a long history of the folk, popular and classical musical development. Music was an important part of polytheistic, pre-Christian Lithuania – rituals were accompanied by music instruments and singing, deeds of the heroes and those who didn't return from the war were celebrated in songs.
Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, located on Gediminas Avenue in Vilnius, is one of Lithuania's most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues and cultural institutions. Founded as a Vilnius State Theatre in 1940, it became Lithuanian National Drama Theatre in 1998. The theatre's façade featuring the Feast of Muses sculpture by Stanislovas Kuzma has become a landmark of Vilnius city.
Daina Society was a Lithuanian cultural organization promoting Lithuanian folk traditions and songs. It was established as an illegal cultural society by the composer Juozas Naujalis and officially registered with the Tsarist authorities in 1905. Active from 1899 to 1944 in Kaunas, the society organized various events, concerts, amateur theater performances. In 1924, it initiated the first Lithuanian Song Festival.
Vytautas Juozapaitis is a Lithuanian singer (baritone), recipient of Lithuanian National Prize, a soloist of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and Kaunas State Musical Theatre, a professor of Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and a docent of Vilnius College of Higher Education, and a television personality. He has performed in many international venues and is considered the most famous contemporary Lithuanian baritone.
Vytautas Klova was a Lithuanian composer and educator. His best-known work is opera Pilėnai, based on the historical events in Pilėnai. It is by far the most popular Lithuanian opera.
The Kaunas State Musical Theatre, formerly Kaunas City Theatre, is a theatre in Kaunas, Lithuania. It is home to a musical theatre company of the same name, established on 27 November 1940 in the former State Theatre hall on the Laisvės Alėja.
Vytautas Kernagis was a Lithuanian singer-songwriter ("bard") actor, director, and television announcer. He is considered to be a pioneer of Lithuanian sung poetry.
Henrikas Ciparis is a Lithuanian painter.
The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra is one of Lithuania's two national orchestras, founded in 1988. The other, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1940.
The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra is one of Lithuania's two national orchestras, and was founded in 1940. Melodiya records with Lithuanian conductors and Lithuanian music released during the Soviet era indicate on label and sleeve the LTSR Valstybinis filharmonijos simfoninis orkestras which seems to have been the official name of the orchestra in Soviet times.
Old Theatre of Vilnius, built in 1913 as Pohulanka Theatre and formerly known as Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania and other names, is a theatre in the Old Town of Vilnius. It is the only professional theatre in Lithuania that stages performances in Russian.
Eglė Špokaitė is a Lithuanian ballet dancer, most notably a Principal Ballerina for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (1989–2011) and the only ballet dancer on the List of Famous Lithuanians. She co-founded the Egle Špokaitė Ballet School in Vilnius, Lithuania (2008), where she also served as artistic director. In the United States, she founded the Ballet Institute of San Diego dance school (2016). Špokaitė is also a choreographer, actress, and public speaker. She's the winner of the Lithuanian National Prize, as well as numerous other awards and honors. She lives and works between San Diego, CA and Vilnius.
Kipras Petrauskas was a Lithuanian and Soviet operatic tenor, professor, and Lithuanian Association of Artists member. The national opera foundation is associated with him. He was married to Elena Žalinkevičaitė-Petrauskienė. In 1942, he was asked to hide a Jewish baby girl, Dana Pomeranz, which he and his wife agreed to do. To hide the girl better, he and his wife left the city, moving first to a Lithuanian village, and later to Austria and then Germany. In 1947, they came back to Lithuania, found Dana's parents, and gave her back to them.
The Lithuanian Air Force Band is a Lithuanian musical group representing the Lithuanian Air Force which participates in military parades, celebrations, funeral ceremonies, as well as concerts for the public. It was founded in Vilnius on 12 May 1994 as two separate orchestras. On 21 March 2001, the Commander of the Air Force and the Minister of National Defense ordered the merger of the two orchestras to become the representative air force orchestra. The orchestra has 29 musicians and is led by Captain Ričardas Kukulskis and Captain Remigijus Terminas.
America in the Bathhouse is a three-act comedy by Keturakis. The play was first published in 1895. It became the first Lithuanian-language play performed in public in present-day Lithuania when a group of Lithuanian activists staged it on 20 August 1899 in Palanga. The play depicts an episode from the everyday life of the Lithuanian village – a resourceful man swindles money from a naive woman and escapes to the United States. Due to its relevant plot, small cast, and simple decorations, the play was very popular with the Lithuanian amateur theater. It became one of the most popular and successful Lithuanian comedies of all time and continues to be performed by various troupes.
7th Infantry Regiment and later titled as the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Samogitian Duke Butigeidis was a Lithuanian Army infantry regiment that saw combat in the Lithuanian Wars of Independence. It was formed on 9 January 1919 and disbanded in 1940.
Vytautas Montvila was a Lithuanian composer, bassoonist and sound engineer.
Birutė is a two-act opera composed by Mikas Petrauskas based on the play by Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis. It was first performed on 6 November 1906 in Vilnius and became the first Lithuanian national opera. The plot is based on the medieval legend about the love between Birutė and Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis recorded in the Lithuanian Chronicles. The opera was written for the amateur Lithuanian performers and thus is mostly valued for its historical significance.
Mikas Petrauskas (1873–1937) was a Lithuanian composer and choirmaster best known as the author of the first Lithuanian opera Birutė (1906). He was an elder brother of the singer Kipras Petrauskas.
Herkus Kunčius is a Lithuanian writer, playwright, and essayist.
