Is M.K. Čiurlionis really 150 years old? The man who was ahead of his time is back today in the language of music, interpreted and performed by world-renowned piano, jazz and electronic music stars. With an impressive line-up of international talent from the United States, Canada, Norway, Germany, France, Spain and other countries, the festival World Piano Stars Salute M.K. Čiurlionis will invite you to concerts throughout Lithuania. Performances will be held in the most important cultural venues of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Visaginas, Plungė and Druskininkai. In Vilnius, the grand opening and closing gala concerts will take place at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall. M. K. Čiurlionis’ music will also be performed at the Old Theatre of Vilnius, the LVSO Concert Hall (the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra), Dūmų fabrikas (Smoke Factory), the cultural bar Kablys and the M. K. Čiurlionis House.
Since 2020, Tytuvėnai Festival, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius have been organising concerts to mark the birthday of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911). Such an effort – the tradition of celebrating the unique Lithuanian creator by listening to famous Lithuanian and foreign pianists, which has been fostered over several years – has allowed us to invite music lovers to one of the largest piano music festivals in the Baltic States in September 2025, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of M. K. Čiurlionis. Each concert of the festival will welcome a different world star to salute M. K. Čiurlionis.
On 17 September, the first half of the opening concert at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall will feature Dmitri Levkovich, a pianist of Ukrainian origin from Canada. Well-known to Lithuanian music connoisseurs, he has already managed to share his admiration for M. K. Čiurlionis’ piano works and to capture the hearts of the music lovers with his performance of M. K. Čiurlionis’ music. “It is not easy to compare the harmonious language, polyphonic thinking and exceptional voice of the composer with the opuses of other composers”, says the pianist.
The second half of the concert will introduce George Li, one of the most sought-after and outstanding pianists of his generation from the USA, coming to Lithuania for the first time. With his grace, elegance and virtuosity of the highest order, as well as a depth of interpretation far beyond his years, George Li has captivated music critics and, as the New York Times notes, his “youthful abandon and utter command” has attracted numbers of fans.
On 18 September, in the Old Theatre of Vilnius, which boasts exceptional acoustics for piano recitals, M. K. Čiurlionis will be greeted by Andrius Žlabys, a Lithuanian pianist living in the USA, a Grammy nominee, as well as Håvard Gimse, a Norwegian superstar, praised for an adventurous and extremely wide repertoire. Musicianship and artistic presence of both pianists has received the highest accolades at festivals and competitions, as well as has been consistently praised by critics. Andrius Žlabys is “a shining hope of pianists” (The New York Sun), “his easy virtuosity is a wonder” (The Strad), his sound is “generous and all encompassing” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). The British news website independent.co.uk summed it up brilliantly and noted the uniqueness of Håvard Gimse: “Rarely is a pianist so at ease as Håvard Gimse. The mechanics of playing seemed to come naturally, so that he could concentrate on listening to himself.” Tonight, the Old Theatre of Vilnius will become a realm of enchanting interpretation, where multi-layered understanding of M. K. Čiurlionis’ music will manifest itself at the highest level.
On 19 September, the project Infinite Horizons, created especially for the Lithuanian season in France and presented at concerts in Montpellier region, will return to Vilnius for one evening in 2025, a few days before M. K. Čiurlionis’ birthday. The project brings together artists from different fields: pianist Rokas Zubovas, electronic music creator Phil Von, electric viola da gamba player Justine Ribière, visual installation artist Akvilė Anglickaitė and sound engineer Giedrius Kriūnas. The project, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Lithuanian genius M. K. Čiurlionis, aims to reveal the depth, immensity and irresistibility of his work, which is not subject to time and space. Using contemporary creative and technological tools, the artists will create an experiential space where M. K. Čiurlionis’ music and visual art will bridge the past and the present.
On 21 September, for the first time ever, the M. K. Čiurlionis Birthday Concert will take place at the LVSO Concert Hall (the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra). Two of the world’s music celebrities will take you on a journey through the music of M. K. Čiurlionis, E. Grieg, M. Ravel, F. Liszt and C. Franck. Listeners will have a unique opportunity to hear Lucas Debargue, a superstar from France coming to Lithuania for the first time. “Since Glenn Gould’s visit to Moscow and Van Cliburn’s victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition in the heat of the Cold War, never has a foreign pianist provoked such frenzy as Lucas Debargue at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition,” wrote The Huffington Post. The evening will be opened by pianist Alexei Volodin (Spain), who, unlike many renowned musicians, knows how to find the golden mean between meaning and emotion, sensitive touch and impeccable technique when he sits down at the instrument. The Classical Source described the pianist as a magnificent artist who “peels back the layers of meaning and expression in everything he plays, captivating with a fabulously discreet virtuosity”. Audience is in for a harmonious yet frenzied performance. The performers, who complement each other perfectly, will leave no one indifferent.
On 22 September, the M. K. Čiurlionis’ birthday, the festival World Piano Stars Salute M. K. Čiurlionis will invite music lovers to a gala concert at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, where five world-renowned pianists will celebrate M. K. Čiurlionis, an ambassador of Lithuanian culture and identity around the world born 150 years ago in Varėna, and his music. The culminating moment of the festival will feature Andrew Brownell (USA), the only American pianist to have won the title of laureate of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, Gustav Piekut (Kingdom of Denmark), able to “hit the sweet spot between technical accuracy and off-the-cuff brilliance” (BBC), and the young but already renowned pianists Szymon Nehring (Poland) and Dmitry Mayboroda (Germany), both of whom are performing in prestigious venues worldwide. The evening will conclude with a musical fantasy Pokalbis, kurio niekada nebuvo (The Conversation that Never Was), performed by one of the world’s leading promoters of the legacy of M. K. Čiurlionis, the composer’s great-grandson, pianist Rokas Zubovas.
In 2025, the festival World Piano Stars Salute M. K. Čiurlionis invites you to join a unique musical celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of M. K. Čiurlionis, which will bring together the work of the genius and the mastery of the world’s foremost pianists. Musical celebrities from Lithuania and abroad will present the depths of M. K. Čiurlionis’ music and the international aptitude. In September, concerts will take place in the country’s largest cities and special venues, and the programme will include not only gala performances, but also many other extraordinary concerts from classical to innovative interpretations, asking: is M.K. Čiurlionis really 150 years old?
Advance tickets:
2025.09.17 19:00 Opening concert. Dmitri Levkovich (Ukraine, Canada), George Li (USA) at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall;
2025.09.18 18:30 Andrius Žlabys (Lithuania), Håvard Gimse (Norway) at the Old Theatre of Vilnius;
2025.09.19 20:00 Infinite Horizons (Lithuania/France) at the cultural bar Kablys;
2025.09.21 18:00 Lucas Debargue (France), Alexei Volodin (Spain) at the LVSO Concert Hall;
Organised by PI Tytuvėnai Festivalis, M. K. Čiurlionis House in Vilnius.
The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.
Lietuvos bei pasaulio kultūrą. Kviečiame aktyviai dalyvauti ir kartu pasitikti šį reikšmingą jubiliejų!
The Website for the M. K. Čiurlionis Year Program
