The LNSO has performed in the most famous halls of Moscow and St Petersburg and participated in many international festivals, among them the Prague Spring, St. Petersburg International Festival of Contemporary Music and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. The orchestra has toured most European countries and Japan.

Juozas Domarkas, conductor, together with his own and other orchestras has been invited to conduct the most famous orchestras of Russia and other countries. His musicianship and depth, monumentality, emotional manner of execution, precision, taste and feeling for style are features always acclaimed by critics.Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Recently the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (LCO) has entered the fourth decade of its existence. From the outset, it has been closely associated with its leader, Saulius Sondeckis. The orchestra is drawn from Maestro Sondeckis's best students and is well-known in Europe. Records and CDs of the orchestra are popular in Japan, Russia and most European countries. Outstanding Lithuanian and foreign musicians have performed with the orchestra in concerts, festivals and famous halls. Among them there are the violoncellists M. Rostropovich, N. Gutman and D. Gering, the pianists V. Krainev and J. Frantz, the violinists G. Kremer, Gil Schaham, O. Kagan, T. Grindenko and V. Spivakov, the trumpeter G. Touvron, the organist J. Guillou, the flautist A. Nicolet, the baritone J. van Damm, the Moscow Choir, and the Boys' Choirs of Wiesbaden and Hanover.

The LCO has performed more than two hundred works by Lithuanian composers and has also premiéred works by A. Schnittke, A. Pärt, R. Schtchedrin, E. Denisov and S. Slonimsky.

Recent events in the orchestra's history are its participation in the Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg, Ansbach Bach-Wochen, Berliner Festwochen and many other international festivals in Italy, Spain and France. In 1991 the orchestra performed in the concert series The Orchestras of the World in Madrid.

The leader of the LCO Prof. Saulius Sondeckis, is an outstanding musician: he has conducted numerous famous European orchestras. Saulius Sondeckis founded not only the LCO, but also the St Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, whose CDs, recorded by Sony, have been highly acclaimed by critics.

Kaunas State Choir
Since the foundation of the choir in 1969 it has been conducted by Petras Bingelis. The repertoire of the choir consists of works by Lithuanian and foreign composers including many songs and about 60 larger works. The choir has toured with Sir Y. Menuhin and the pianist and conductor J. Frantz. The choir's permanent partners are the LNSO and the LCO. Together, they have performed a great deal in Lithuania and abroad.

The Kaunas State Choir has participated in famous international festivals, among them Bordo Spring, the Mediterranean, Reims, Strasburg, the New and Old Ways to India, Schleswig-Holstein, Middle European Countries, Turku (Finland), Maspalomas. It has also performed with well-known European orchestras: Paris, Bordo Poland, Moscow and St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestras, and the Lithuanian and Polish Chamber Orchestras.

National Philharmonic
Society of Lithuania
The Philharmonic Society (NPSL) is located in the very centre of the old town of Vilnius. It is surrounded by the Gate of Dawn, the Church of St. Casimir, the Youth and Leliu Theaters, the architecture reflecting medieval times.

Founded in 1940, the NPSL has gained much experience in concert activity. For some time, the NPSL was supported by the state and diligently kept to its ideology. It planned and took care of all the music life of the Republic, developing serious forms of art as well as pop and folk art.

After the re-establishment of the independence of Lithuania, the NPSL refused to have a monopoly on concert activity. Besides organizing the music life of the capital city, the Philharmonic also organizes concert activity all over the Republic through its affiliates in Kaunas, Klaipeda and Siauliai. General Manager Gintautas Kevisas has totally changed the direction of work in the NPSL.

Lithuania, being a country of European cultural traditions, was by force separated from the riches of European art for five decades. For this reason, one of the basic tasks of the NPSL is to become integrated into the music life of Europe and help to spread it in Lithuania. So far, the task has been carried out quite successfully; a number of performers of world standing have visited Lithuania, and the NPSL gives numerous concerts abroad.

National Philharmonic Society of Lithuania
Ausros vartu str. 5
LT-2001 Vilnius
Lithuania

Tel. 370 2 626802
Fax 370 2 622859

Mr Gintautas Kevisas General Director and the violinist Vilhelmas Cepinskis.

The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.

The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.