As we are approaching the most sonorous event of the centenary, the Lietuva ensemble invites you to start the celebrations with the concert programme Per amžius. Because over the centuries the world changes, but not values. Through the ages, the forest grows green and life spreads through the leaves - from person to person, from memory to the future. A tradition that continues to unite and nurture us through the ages, and a song that strengthens us as a community. In the run-up to the upcoming event, we invite you to remember a history that began in 1924 with the first Song Festival and spans 100 years.
The "Through the Ages" concert is an introduction to the forthcoming jubilee celebration, "To make the woods green". One of the main participants of the celebration, the ensemble "Lietuva", has created most of the repertoire in its time. The directors, composers, choreographers and ballet masters who worked there choreographed the main dances and composed the musical programmes that are still performed by various ensembles today. The centenary of the Song Festival has inspired a new musical project, which, through the eyes of the renewed ensemble, will reveal the treasure trove of the national repertoire - the works of J.Shvedas, J.Lingis, V.Buterlevičius, L.Povilaitis and other renowned creators of "Lithuania".
For many, the Song Festival is a nostalgic memory, but at the same time, it is also a ritual that one wants to engage in with thousands of Lithuanians from around the world. This programme looks back at the tradition and origins of the 100-year-old Song Festival, and not only traces the birth of the national mobilisation to sing between the two world wars, the transformation of the identity of our singing community, the way in which the community responded in song to a difficult period in Lithuania's history, or the beginning of the Singing Revolution, but also re-establishes the community in Lithuanian song and dance itself. These songs, their sound and the singing of all of us (audience and performers) encode the history of our nation, which is worth singing again and again, because our identity is strengthened by performing this ritual.
As the ensemble "Lietuva" travels through various cities of Lithuania, the first Song Celebration pieces such as "Kur bėga šešupė", "Beauštanti aušrelė", "Kupolinis", "Vestuviniai šokiai" and other impressive performances will be performed. The audience is invited to join in with the well-known patriotic songs "Where the woods are green" or "God bless us". The most uplifting dance and music performances will be given by the choir of the state ensemble "Lietuva", the dance troupe and the orchestra of Lithuanian national instruments.
The versatile ensemble "Lietuva" brings the country's proud history to life in a contemporary way. It is the only such joint professional choir, dance and orchestra ensemble in the Baltic States. It is a vibrant, ever-changing ensemble that always returns to our roots and our identity - what our grandparents and parents grew up with, what we grew up with, and what our children will grow up with.
The State Ensemble "Lietuva" continues the long-standing campaign "Let's grow the muscle of unity", which is reminding us that the main muscle of a human being is the heart, and that unity helps to unite these hearts - to unite through the living and common history of all of us.