The 35th anniversary of the Baltic Way will be marked in Vilnius with a concert “650 Kilometers of Freedom” featuring more than 200 performers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia who will perform Baltic music of various genres written in the last decades.
Edita Klaunauskaite, one of the organizers of the event and the head of the state song and dance ensemble Lietuva (Lithuania), said it would be one of the biggest events in the Baltics dedicated to this anniversary.
“Our idea is to have an uplifting mood, uplifting music because we see that there are not so many uplifting celebrations in Lithuania, the Baltic Way is a rebellion, a revolution, a statement …, we want to celebrate that our way of freedom,” Klaunauskaite said during a press conference on Tuesday.
According to her, spectators from Latvia and Estonia are actively invited to the event.
Modestas Pitrenas, the chief conductor and artistic director of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the artistic director of the upcoming concert, said that the program of the concert was being compiled and the music works were being selected in collaboration with colleagues from Latvia and Estonia.
“This is a manifesto of our modern state and our modern history… It will be a kind of musical kaleidoscope, about an hour long, featuring about 15 different pieces of music from our three Baltic States,” Pitrenas said.
According to him, the concert will feature musical works created in the Baltic States over the last 35 years, contemporary academic music, folk song arrangements, electronic music and choral music.
“This will not be an evening of hits, it will not be all those hits that were played 35 years ago or that are playing now. It will be pieces that can specifically reflect our cultures – different and yet similar,” Pitrenas added.
The event will cost over 200,000 euros and is funded by public institutions and corporate sponsors. The gala concert will take place in the central Cathedral Square of Vilnius on August 23, starting at 7 p.m.
On August 23, 1989, on the 50th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet pact, around two million Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians joined hands in a protest called the Baltic Way, forming a living human chain stretching for more than 650 km from the Gediminas Tower in Vilnius to the Hermann Tower in Tallinn.
Source: BNS
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