A solemn concert marking the 120th anniversary of the Great Seimas of Vilnius took place at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, a historic venue where, in 1905, Lithuanians gathered to publicly and unanimously express their aspiration to establish their own state for the first time.

The first part of the concert offered a glimpse into the birth and development of Lithuanian musical culture – a time when history, language, and music converged in the shared process of forging a national identity.

The concert opened with Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’ symphonic overture Kęstutis, composed in 1902. The surviving piano score of the work was reconstructed and orchestrated by composer Jurgis Juozapaitis in 2010.

Just eleven months after the Great Seimas of Vilnius, the first Lithuanian national opera, Mikas Petrauskas’s Birutė, was performed in the same hall, becoming an important symbol of national culture and identity. Excerpts from this opera – the overture and Birutė’s aria – evoked the most beautiful emotions: the same joy and pride that accompanied the opera’s birth.

The programme also featured excerpts from Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera I Lituani (The Lithuanians), based on Adam Mickiewicz’s poem Konrad Wallenrod: the overture, Arnoldo’s aria, and the duet of Aldona and Arnoldo. The premiere of the work took place at the end of the 19th century at La Scala in Milan, and the opera itself became a significant contribution to the reputation of Lithuania in the European musical context.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Lithuania’s musical life was exceptionally vibrant, yet it was constrained by the strict ideological demands of “socialist realism.” In the concert, this period was represented by Dalia’s aria from Balys Dvarionas’s opera Dalia and Ūdrys’ song from Vytautas Klova’s opera Pilėnai (Defenders of the Castle), works that bear witness to the development of Lithuanian opera within a complex historical context.

The programme was complemented by two Lithuanian folk song arrangements: Juozas Gruodis’ Oi ant kalno (Oh, on the Hill) and Juozas Tallat-Kelpša’s Už aukštųjų kalnelių (Beyond the High Hills).