the Germans were impressed by the work of their Lithuanian colleagues

The most beautiful opera arias, duets and choruses are performed by the Latvian opera prima donna Kristynes ​​Opolais, the Armenian tenor Liparits Avetisyan, who shines on the stages of the most famous theaters, and the Kaunas State Choir, with the support of the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Konstantinos Orbelians, under the impressively illuminated vaults of the church, among its valuable paintings and sculptures – such a one and a half hour feast for the eyes and ears was given to the audience by LRT on the occasion of public holidays.

The clergy themselves admitted that this sanctuary had never seen such a level of artists and quality of art.

Probably, she had never heard such a colorful repertoire. After all, liturgical music is usually played here, and this time the church’s serious operatic repertoire was supplemented by songs, among them – “Dear Lithuania” by Juoz Naujalis and Maironis, and the Lithuanian folk song “Už ežero ugnys dega” arranged by the American Reik Futing.

Believers have probably never seen the Kaunas Archcathedral Basilica glowing with its Gothic and Baroque treasures. The skill of the operators inspired more than one viewer to visit this sanctuary and see everything with their own eyes.

The concert broadcast on March 11, “Festival of Voices in the Most Beautiful Cathedral of Lithuania”, was filmed and broadcast by the joint forces of German and Lithuanian television crews.

According to LRT editor Jonas Vilims, Lithuanian television has created a musical project of this caliber maybe only at the end of the last century, when together with the Norwegians, they filmed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in St. John’s Church in the capital. There were legends about it for a long time.

And this time, the work was created by the German production company ARMIDA Film, led by Tilos Krause, who also directed the broadcast.

This artist of broad interests, who studied conducting, musicology, art history and philosophy, has been realizing his experience in recent years (ARMIDA Film was founded in 2020) by creating documentaries, music videos, commercials, filming concerts and music shows.

His heroes are the most prominent art collectives and artists of today, and his clients are the most famous European art and culture institutions. The company’s products are distributed in Europe, Asia and America.

Not only LRT, but also the European public culture and art television channel ARTE, which has an audience of one million, and is known as a broadcaster of extremely high quality cultural content, undertook to co-produce the project in Kaunas. At the beginning of January, he broadcasted the concert from the Kaunas Archcathedral Basilica in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and other countries.

“To be on the air of this television is the aspiration of every European artist. We are happy and proud that ARTE television is interested in Kaunas and our city’s collectives” – stressed Algimantas Treikauskas, head of the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra (KMSO). It was his initiative and that of KMSO artistic director and chief conductor K. Orbelian that “ARMIDA Film” came to Lithuania.

The conductors of the orchestra have been cooperating with world opera celebrities for many years. Because the recording company “Delos Music” headed by the American K. Orbelian releases CDs of the most prominent opera soloists, and records them in Kaunas with KMSO. Four of these albums were nominated for Grammy Awards.

According to A. Treikauskas, television recordings of concerts with stars are a kind of thanks to these artists for the records. Without them, inviting artists of this caliber would hardly be possible.

They filmed in Žvaižde and Kaunas Archcathedral without any payment.

But this does not mean that this project was easy to implement. The search for a venue for the concert began last summer. T. Krause and A. Treikauskas visited many Lithuanian mansions, until finally they chose the Kaunas Archcathedral Basilica because of its impressive interior suitable for the festive mood.

“We are very grateful to Monsignor Vytautas Grigaravičis, who agreed to accept this huge project. The public filming, which took place on December 1 and 2, drew crowds. Almost a week ago, it was necessary to turn on the additional heating of the church so that the artists would not feel discomfort”, said A. Treikauskas.

A group of 18 people came from Germany to film the concert. She worked together with her Lithuanian colleagues all week. Three mobile TV stations were employed, filming was done with stable cameras and cranes.

“If we hadn’t been able to ensure technical quality, we wouldn’t be in this project: everything was filmed with LRT equipment. The Germans did not hide that they did not expect to find such professional workers here – everyone understood each other from half a word. I heard from Lithuanian operators that they also gained a lot of useful experience. The result of the work was really solid, worthy of the international market”, J. Vilimas was happy.

It is true that ARTE showed a shortened version of the concert, and the entire filmed concert can still be seen in the LRT media library until April 10.

LRT promises to show his recording in the future – it owns the rights to show the concert in Lithuania, and ARMIDA Film, which financed the project, can distribute it everywhere at its discretion. According to A. Treikauskas, broadcasts are planned in Japan, China and other Asian countries.

It is true that the Far East already wants 4K, which is more advanced than HD, but in Lithuania and other Baltic countries there are still no opportunities to film in this format.

Rejoices in achievements

* Being pleased with the quality of the international project, Mr. Vilim noted that this is not the only LRT success in music bars in recent years.

* In the fall, at one of the oldest and most important television festivals, Golden Prague, in the Czech capital, the final of the series “Musical journey through time” was recognized as the best concert recording. Vilnius 700. 21st century” concert directed by Kornelijs Jaroševičius and Armas Rudaitis. It presented the works of composers Jūras Elena Šedytė, Monika Zenkevičiūtė-Monikaze and Maksimilians Opriškas.

* Another LRT musical recording that participated in the “Golden Prague” competition program – the dance performance-excursion-film “Einu pirkti pieno” by choreographers Agnietė Lisičkinaitė and Greta Grinevičiūtė, directed by Antanas Lauruš, made it to the short list of the best.