The largest and most prominent international collaboration initiated by the Midsummer Vilnius Festival. 

On 15 July, we will kick off the ninth Midsummer Vilnius Festival programme with a spectacular concert by a global jazz grandee in the Grand Courtyard of the Palace. The exclusive performance of Grammy winner Gregory Porter together with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas will be the only one time in Vilnius, under the glorious summer sky. 

Superstar Gregory Porter has many fans in Lithuania. His concerts are a feast for the ears of music lovers, and tickets for them don't disappear any time soon. 

The world-famous singer has been hailed as "America's second-best jazz singer" after Louis Armstrong. Gregory Porter's work transports audiences to a different time and place. His music weaves old jazz roots with stylish and contemporary soul and gospel soundscapes. 

"I didn't start writing music out of unhappy love or a broken heart. It's all because of my father. It's because of the pain in my chest that I've felt since I was a kid, without his attention," Gregory Porter says of the origins of his work. 

Living under the Californian sun, his life has been as transformative as the plot of a film. 

Having started his career as a footballer, he found himself in Brooklyn, in the kitchen of his brother's restaurant, after a series of serious injuries. The then-chef was also a crooner*, singing in New York's nightclubs and bars. 

"Whether this gift brings me success or poverty, I'm going to do it," he said as he climbed the heights of his career a decade ago.  

Gregory Porter released his debut album in 2010 to international acclaim. In 2012, his work was nominated for his first Grammy Award. 

The talented singer's songs such as "L-O-V-E", "Hey Laura", "Christmas Wish", "Everything's Not Lost", "Smile", "Somebody", "Holding On" and many more have conquered the playlists of music lovers.