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Famous Lithuanian actors and singers - Jokūbas Bareikis, Jurga Šeduikytė, Lina Rastokaitė, Rafailas Karpis, Gabrielius Liaudanskas - Svaras  and others to be revealed later - invite you to a gala concert of the most beautiful songs and stories The Code of Vytautas Kernagis. At the concerts, which will take place in four of Lithuania's largest arenas, the audience will not only remember the beloved works of the nation's herald Maestro, but will also have the opportunity to see never-before-seen archival material from the life and work of V. Kernagis.

The director of the project "The Codex of Vytautas Kernagis", Jokūbas Bareikis, has been touring Lithuania for more than a year now, successfully presenting a programme of songs of Vytautas Kernagis at solo concerts. This time Bareikis will not be alone - he will be sharing the stage with at least five well-known performers and stage colleagues. With the help of a live band, strings, gospel choir Vilnius Voices, stage and lighting professionals and the most beautiful voices on the Lithuanian stage, the director will invite the audience to meet him on the biggest stages in the country, where the space and the technical possibilities will allow them to hear and feel even more impressive and magnificent performances in memory of the Maestro.

"This second programme dedicated to Kernagius has grown out of the first one, in every sense, both in scale and in theme," says Bareikis. - I keep thinking, why did the Maestro become the one and only, what made him immortal in people's hearts? Probably it's not just the song, the words or the personality. He radiated values through his work - people came away from his concerts different. Maybe just for an evening, a week, or a month, but different - with a smile, thoughtful, a little happier, and sometimes - crying. What did Vytautas talk about between the lines? What might he have missed saying? This is the answer I am looking for. I have called it "The Code of Vytautas Kernagis".

The Kernagis family is also contributing to the preparation of these concerts by helping to select never-before-seen archive material that the audience will see during the concerts. J. Bareikis says that the family's consent and cooperation was one of the main moral conditions for the concerts to take place.

Singer and songwriter Jurga Šeduikytė, who will perform songs by V. Kernagis at the concert, says that she will never forget her first meeting with the Maestro.

"I remember I met Vytautas at my own concert in a legendary concert venue in Palanga, Vandenis. It was very good to meet him, it was good to know that he knows what I sing, what my music is." 

J. Šeduikytė says that for a singer it is always very important to have the support of the people around you - the colleagues, musicians, team around you are always changing, and you stay alone with yourself. 

"And you never know if what you are doing on this earth is good? And when a person like Vytautas, whom you respect very much, comes and tells you that everything is fine with you, go on creating - these are very important and necessary words."

Opera soloist, tenor Rafailas Karpis admits that Vytautas Kernagis has been with him from his childhood to the present."My earliest memories are of gloomy winter evenings, when my parents and I would faithfully watch his show "Last Chance" - those evenings would turn into joyful celebrations," says the soloist. - Later, when he was at school, especially in the older grades, nothing conveyed the poems of the great Lithuanian poets more powerfully than the songs he composed and performed based on those poems. And this is only a small part of Vytautas in my life. I think that Kernagis has shaped the identity of many Lithuanian people."

R. Karpis hopes that during the concerts we will be able to remember together with the audience what we have best - the work of Vytautas Kernagis - in a simple, but at the same time deep and sincere way, of course - with a bit of sarcasm and respectful humour.

Jokūbas Bareikis, the director of the concerts, remembers that while preparing for these projects he discovered more and more interesting coincidences related to Kernagi - for example, his favourite childhood record was V.

"I also learned to play the piano at the same school, and at secondary school I was taught by the same teacher, Laima Abraitytė, thanks to whom the Maestro became interested in poetry. Later on, I met Kernagi live, during my final exams - I chose to sing his song, and the course director R. Tuminas suggested that I sing like him, and Kernagi persuaded me to sing the song together with him. And so it was - Kernagis comes on stage, sings the first verse of "Purpurinis Vakaras", and I come out, dressed like him, and sing the second verse. During the warm-up we stand and look at each other - "Who are you?", "It's me. And who are you?"

The concerts "The Code of Vytautas Kernagis" will take place on 7 February at Šiauliai Arena, 20 February at Šiauliai Arena. On February 7, at Kaunas Žalgiris Arena, on February 21. Vilnius Twinsbet Arena, 22 February Tickets are distributed by bilietai.lt