From June 26 to July 2 The summer festival “LNOBT Open” will be waiting for the public for the fourth time in the Great Courtyard of the Palace of Lords. This year, his audience will hear two rarely performed operas and admire the skill of the dancers of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne troupe founded by the famous Maurice Béjart. Monika Liu, together with the LNOBT symphony orchestra and its chief conductor Ričardas Šumila, will delight the people of Vilnius with her concert.
The summer festival “LNOBT Open”, which has been delighting Vilnius residents and guests of the capital since 2021, was created to emphasize Lithuania’s contribution to the history of European opera and to extend the tradition of presenting this genre in the place where in 1636. On the order of the ruler of Poland and Lithuania, Vladislaus Vaza, an opera was staged in Lithuania for the first time. Vilnius can and should be proud of the fact that opera was played here earlier than in London or Paris”, says Audrius Kundrotas, who is temporarily acting as LNOBT’s general director.
Developers from Hungary will present Dido and Aeneas
The festival will start on June 26 and 27. the opera “Dido and Aeneas” by the Baroque composer Henry Purcell is shown, which will be presented on stage in the courtyard of the Palace of Lords by a team of creators from the Hungarian State Opera. It is led by the director and choreographer Dóra Barta, so opera soloists and dancers, as well as the LNOBT orchestra and choir, will be able to perform in this performance.
The audience in Budapest saw the production created by D. Barta for the first time in October 2022. In the opera of the 17th century the English composer H. Purcell talentedly voiced the love story of Queen Dido of Carthage and Prince Aeneas of Troy, described by the most famous Roman poet Virgil in the “Aeneid”. Aeneas obeys the command of the gods to leave Carthage and sail to Italy, and the ambitious Dido, offended by his departure, cannot accept the separation…
“Alors on danse…!” / Photo by Gregory Batardon.
J. Massenet’s “Teresė” will be performed for the first time in Lithuania
We will also hear the drama of love with a political flavor in the opera “Therese” by the French composer Jules Massenet, whose concert performance on the “LNOBT Open” stage is scheduled for June 28. The theater festival presents this rarely performed work together with its partner, the Pažaislis Music Festival, continuing the tradition of cooperation between two festivals faithful to classical music.
The idea of performing the opera in Lithuania belongs to mezzo-soprano Justina Gringyta, who previously sang the part of Teresė in the Scottish National Opera and simply fell in love with this work. The part of Teresa’s husband Andrė will be played by bass Tadas Girininkas, and tenor Edgaras Montvidas will play the part of his beloved Armando. The LNOBT symphony orchestra led by the chief conductor Ričardas Šumila will play, and the men’s group of the theater choir led by Česlovs Rajiūnas will sing.
Monika Liu with the symphony orchestra – in the heart of the capital
Monika Liu’s concert with the LNOBT symphony orchestra presented in Kaunas’ Žalgiris Arena in March attracted great interest from the audience, so the LNOBT Open festival on June 29 will give Vilnius residents a chance to see this performance as well. It is an opportunity to hear the theater orchestra in an unusual capacity, and at the same time it is the fulfillment of the singer’s own dream to sing with a symphony orchestra.
“Monika Liu is a professional and charismatic performer of popular music who, in cooperation with the conductor R. Šumila, managed to prepare an extremely sensitive concert program colored by individual experiences. It would be really disappointing if a musical project of such scope and artistic quality disappeared from the public’s view after just one single performance”, says A. Kundrotas.
M. Bejart’s ballet troupe arrives
On the first two evenings of July, the stage of the LNOBT Open festival will be hosted by special foreign guests – the Béjart Ballet Lausanne troupe from Switzerland, founded by the legendary French choreographer Maurice Béjart (1927-2007).
She will present three one-act ballets in Vilnius. Two of them were created by the founder of the troupe himself: the legendary “Bolero” based on the popular work of the composer Maurice Ravel and “7 Greek Dances” based on the music of Mikis Theodorakis. The third is choreographer Gil Roman’s 2022. created the performance “Let there be a dance!…” (French: Alors on danse…!), which features the works of John Zorn, Bob Dylan and the band “Citypercussion”. G. Romanas led the troupe from M. Béjart’s death until 2024. February. In March of this year, Julien Favreau, a longtime dancer of the same troupe, was appointed as the temporary artistic director of Béjart Ballet Lausanne.
Bolero / Photo by Lauren Pasche.
“Hosting such a prestigious ballet troupe as Béjart Ballet Lausanne on the open stage of the summer festival will not be easy, as it is necessary to simultaneously keep the LNOBT’s main stage ready, to which the guest performances can be transferred promptly in adverse weather conditions.” But our goal is to create a memorable summer festival for the audience under the open sky, surrounded by the Palace of the Lords, so together with the most loyal festival viewers, we will keep our fingers crossed for the sky to be merciful at the beginning of July”, smiles A. Kundrots.
Tags: Monika Liu hold concert orchestra LNOBT Open program surprises
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