The Šiauliai Big Band was established in 2002. At that time, Romualdas Jankus held the position of conductor and artistic director. In 2006, Jaroslavas Cechanovičius joined the team and became the chief artistic director and conductor. In 2009, the big band acquired the status of a professional jazz orchestra. The collective performed a lot. Prepared programs with practically all Lithuanian jazz vocalists. He participated in the Riga, Liepaja, and Minsk jazz festivals and is a regular participant of the Birštonas Jazz Festival. 

 

In 2015, Raitis Ašmanis (Latvia) started leading the Šiauliai Big Band. The hard-working and charismatic conductor prepared many different concert programs together with the team over the course of 2 years: "Frank Sinatrai – 100!" with vocalist Daumants Kalninš (Latvia) and Lindyhop.lt club dancers, "Ellai Fitzgerald - 100" with vocalist Cécilė Verny (Germany), a program with the king of rock and roll Algirdas Šuminskas, etc. Very interesting projects of the near future have already been planned, which will delight orchestra fans in 2018 throughout Lithuania and beyond. 

 

As soon as the Šiauliai Big Band was formed, the idea to organize an international big band festival "Big Band Festival Šiauliai" was born. It was attended by many professional big bands not only from Lithuania, but also from all over Europe and America.