Bel Canto Choir presents: a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience - for the first time in the Baltics and the Nordic countries, immerse yourself in the iconic video game and cinematic music of Grammy winner Christopher Tin, right here in Vilnius!

As part of its unique Open To The World project, Bel Canto Choir presents an exclusive content and concert experience. On two consecutive nights - 8-9 December 2024 - the choir will perform concerts with the project's main guest, Christopher Tin (USA), one of the world's most renowned composers, conductor and two-time Grammy-winning composer of concert, opera and videogame music of our time. The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian vocal ensemble Duodeco, the choir A Scalpella (Sweden), and soloists Jamal Moore (USA), Tomas Pavilionis and others will also take part in the concert.

Christopher Tin's music has transcended national borders and is listened to by hundreds of millions of listeners around the world. Joining this global phenomenon, a team of more than 150 singers and musicians from Lithuania, the USA and Sweden will perform his most famous works at the LVSO Concert Hall in Vilnius.

Exclusive Content and Concert Experience in Christmas in Vilnius

The first part of the concert will feature the Nordic and Baltic premiere of the composer's newest large-scale piece, The Lost Birds (for choir, vocal ensemble and orchestra). This work, which has a strong social and environmental dimension, is a musical memorial to bird species that have been decimated by humanity. It is a moving, sensitive, cinematic style work that pays tribute to the flocks of birds that once filled our skies and whose songs have fallen silent. It is also a warning of our fragile existence on this planet - the fate of the winged birds portends our extinction.

The second part of the concert focuses on Christopher Tin's work for media. For the first time in the region, popular works from the composer's world-famous and Grammy-winning albums will be performed live. For example, the hundreds of millions of plays of the hit "Baba Yetu" from the album "Calling All Dawns", which was written for the video game Civilization IV, has not only become a contemporary choral standard, but has also made music history - the first piece written for a video game to win a Grammy Award.

Christopher Tin's multilingual song cycle Calling All Dawns won a second Grammy Award for Best Classical Album, and The Drop That Contained the Sea debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical charts.

The only evening of its kind in the Baltics and the Nordic countries

The concert will also feature works from another of the composer's internationally acclaimed albums, To Shiver the Sky. It is an oratorio about the history of flight and mankind's quest to conquer the sky. Eleven of the world's most renowned astronomers, inventors, visionaries and pilots talk about our inexorable need to explore the universe, to defy earthly ties and to carve out a place for ourselves among the stars.

The album's highlight and the concert's finale is another one of the concert's hundreds of millions of hits, Sogno di Volare. This composition, written for the video game Civilization VI, is a musical illustration of Leonardo Da Vinci's lyrics about flight. It is about discovery: both geographical, when we discover new lands, and intellectual, when we pursue science and new technologies.

Christopher Tin's music is sung in a variety of languages, including English, Latin, Italian, German, French, Polish, Sanskrit and others. In this way, the composer sends a strong message of unity - that despite differences in race, culture, religion and other differences, we are all connected by a common human experience.

The concert features

The artistic director of Bel Canto Choir is Milda Švelnienė, the choirmasters are Raminta Gocentienė and Povilas Vanžodis, and the vocal pedagogues are Eglė Stundžiaitė and Eimantas Besėnas. "Open To The World is produced by Audrius Valatkevičius (Bel Canto Choir) and Claire Long (Music Productions, UK).

Open To The World 2024

Bel Canto Choir's Open To The World Festival is a unique vocal-choir music project that has become a tradition in Lithuania. Its aim is to present modern content, the world's best choirs, vocal ensembles and composers, to promote cultural and choral music innovation and cooperation between Lithuanian and international musicians, to foster Western culture, to create, make music and grow together.

Open To The World, which started in 2018, will present five concerts this year, featuring over 200 singers and musicians: Composer and conductor Christopher Tin (USA), winner of two Grammy Awards, the vocal ensemble Duodeco (Lithuania), the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the choir A Scalpella (Sweden), and soloists Jamal Moore (USA) and Tomas Pavilionis (Lithuania), The Real Group (Sweden), one of the world's most famous vocal ensembles, the barbershop vocal ensemble Lemon Squeezy (Sweden), vocalist and guitarist Marius Beck (Norway), the best boys' and young people's choir in Lithuania "Dagilėlis", and others.

Project sponsors: building manufacturers INHUS, Business Garden Vilnius office park developed by Vastint Lithuania, SIRIN Development, the largest logistics and industrial real estate developer in the Baltic States, and Vilnius City Municipality. Information partner - LRT TV, advertising partner - Ogilvy advertising agency.