Voices of Lithuania Concert
Celebrating the choral tradition for which the Baltics are known.
A two-part program featuring renowned choirs as well as a folk instrument orchestra from Lithuania and the documentary film “Šventė” after intermission.
Get to know our guests who have come to join us from across the ocean, listen to the exceptional choral music and learn about the unique song festival tradition that Lithuania is known for!
Date, Time & Location
06 · 28 | 8:00 PM
$20 | 12 & under free
Music Hall (Cleveland Public Auditorium)
(Entrance off of St. Claire Ave. NE between East Mall Drive and E. 6th Street)
Part One
Vilnius, Lithuania
Vilnius Culture Center Women's Choir "Liepos"
Director: Audronė Steponavičiūtė Zupkauskienė
Women’s Choir “Liepos” of Vilnius Cultural Center was founded in 1989. Most of the singers started singing in the girls’ choir “Liepaitės” as children, out of which grew the “Liepos”. The choir is led by former “Liepaitės” member Audronė Steponavičiūtė Zupkauskienė (concertmaster Loreta Kuliešiuvienė). The choir’s repertoire includes works from various eras and genres, from simple folk songs to large-scale opuses. Every year, “Liepos” organizes concerts together with the Vilnius St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra to commemorate the events of January 13. The choir “Liepos” has won medals and diplomas in competitions in Lithuania and abroad. In 2004, the choir was awarded the “Aukso Paukštė” – “The Brightest Star of Lithuania”. The leader Audronė Steponavičiūtė Zupkauskienė has been awarded the medal “For Merits to Lithuania”. Members of the women’s choir “Liepos” appeared in almost all song festivals in Lithuania.
Concert program:
- Donatas Zakaras. Parbėg laivelis (The Boat Has Sailed Away, folk song from the Pomeranian region of Lithuania)
- M. K. Čiurlionis. Kelk, dukrele (Awaken, My Daughter, Lithuanian folk song)
- Gediminas Kalinas. Bijūnėlis (The Peony, Lithuanian folk song)
- Zigmas Venckus. Ant aukšto kalnelio (On a High Hill, Lithuanian folk song)
- Leonidas Abaris. Širdis (The Heart, lyrics Juozas Erlickas)
- Vytautas Miškinis. Beata est Maria, Ave Maris Stella
- Jurijus Kalcas. Gloria from Missa Brevis
Plungė, Lithuania
Plungė Culture Center Chamber Choir
Director: Alfonsas Vildžiūnas
Plungė Culture Center Chamber Choir was founded in 1986. Its singers are music teachers, culture centre staff and music fans devoting their leisure time to the choir art. The choir’s repertoire includes ecclesiastical and universal music of different epochs and styles. Their concert programs present a different classical and modern music spectrum as well as entertaining pieces. The choir participated in the choir festivals of the Northern-Baltic countries in Latvia (1995), Sweden (1997), Norway (2000) and Lithuania (2002). In 2002, the choir visited Germany and held concerts in Menden and Berlin. In 2004, it participated in the international festival “Musikchordance” in Tarare (France). In 2007, the choir was awarded two golden diplomas in the international choir competition “In canto sul Garda”, Italy. In 2017, Plungė Chamber Choir was awarded golden diploma and third place in competition “Grand Prix Thailand”. The choir’s repertoire includes A.Vivaldi “Gloria”, W.A.Mozart “Coronation Mass”, C.Saint-Saens “Christmas Oratorio”, Ch.Gounod “Messe solenele” etc.
Concert program:
- Alvydas Remesa. Tėve mūsų (Our Father)
- Leif Goras. Kaip vasaros vėjas (As the Summer Wind)
- Faustas Strolia. Mylėjau mergelę (I Loved a Girl)
- Kęstutis Daugirdas. Leliumai
Vilnius, Lithuania
Vilnius mixed choir "Sonoros"
Director: Valerija Skapienė
Debuting in the spring of 2018, choir “Sonoros” —conducted by artistic director Valerija Skapienė—has earned acclaim at both national and international choral competitions. They frequently collaborate with Lithuanian opera soloists and orchestras. Their performances are praised not only for a high level of mastery but also for the strong emotions evoked through carefully curated and engaging programs. The choir includes singers aged 16 to 65 from various professional backgrounds and with diverse choral experience—some have been dedicated to music since childhood, while others began their musical journey with the choir itself. This diversity keeps the group vibrant, energetic, and ever-evolving.
Concert program:
- Vaclovas Augustinas. Stokitės, ponai (Stand up, gentlemen)
- Kęstutis Daugirdas. Užaugo liepa (A Linden tree Grew)
- Vaclovas Augustinas. Cantemus
- Donatas Zakaras. Teka, teka (As the Sun Rises)
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Klaipėda Folk Instrument Orchestra
Director: Vytautas Tetenskas
The orchestra was formed especially for the Cleveland 2025 Song Festival. Its roster includes both current and former students of Vytautas Tetenskas, who are themselves teachers in Klaipėda and its environs and who also work as performance musicians. The orchestra makeup is minimal, a single player per part, able to accompany choirs and dancers.
Concert program:
- Jonas Švedas. Svajonėlė (Dream)
- Balys Dvarionas. Medinis žirgelis (Wooden steed)
- Liudas Andrulis. Tekėjo saulelė (The Rising Sun)
- Algimantas Bražinskas. Melodija (Melody)
- Anatolijus Lapinskas. Čiužela (A Mardi Gras game)
- Bronius Mūras. Pavasaris (Spring)
Los Angeles, CA
Nicholas Galinaitis
Accompanist
Nicholas Galinaitis is a dynamic and upcoming concert pianist who has been living in Los Angeles since 2019. He has been trained by Dr. David Kreider in Westminster, MD and Leticia Gomez-Tagle, in Vienna, Austria. He has performed for various venues such as the Los Angeles Breakfast Club in Los Angeles, Art For Hearts’ Sake Concert Series in Baltimore, as well as various small local venues for performances that were warmly received by the community. He specializes in the Romantic Repertoire of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt, and dazzles audiences with his own compositions and renditions on famous themes from music, “Now Thank We All Our God,” and the Paganini Caprice No. 13.
In addition to being a successful recitalist, he has also been the music director of music programs in churches in Westminster, Maryland, Glen Rock, Pennsylvania and La Crescenta, California, where he has served as both organist and choir director. He has studied organ with Ted Dix and Samuel Springer through the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.
Part Two
Documentary film
The Festival
The Lithuanian Song Festival Celebrates 100 Years
In 2024, Lithuania celebrated the 100 anniversary of the Song Festival. A week of impressive events brought together people from across the country, attracted crowds of tourists, and welcomed hundreds of Lithuanians from around the world who returned home. What does such a tradition mean to us? What does it take to create an event of this scale? How does one prepare for it? What thoughts swirl through the minds of its creators just minutes before the concert?
The documentary film “The Festival” invites you to the place where the magic is born – behind the scenes of the Lithuanian Song Festival. The film features unseen footage from the biggest events of the festival, the excitement and challenges of preparation, human talent traveling through generations, and an all-encompassing sense of unity.
In Lithuanian, with English subtitles.
Duration: 60 min.
Directors: Ieva Šakalytė & Darius Dapkus.
Participants: Saulius Liausa (Director of the Song Festival), Leokadija Dabužinskaitė (Director of the Ensemble Evening), Vidas Mačiulskis (Artistic Director of the Dance Day), Vytautas Miškinis (Conductor of the Song Day), Eglė Daugėlaitė and Aistė Plaipaitė (TV presenters), Saulius Petreikis (musician), Zita Bružaitė (composer), Vaidotas Valiukevičius (leader of the band “The Roop”) and 37 thousand Song Festival creators.
Introductory remarks will be given by Saulius Liausa (Director of the Lithuanian National Culture Centre) LT & Ieva Krivickaitė (Head of Communications of the Song Festival) EN.
