Published: 20250922
Date:
2025-09-22
Photographer:
Vytautas Abramauskas
On the maestro's actual birthday, September 22, an evening concert entitled "The Great Tenor" was held at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, where former students of the professor, now well-known performers, presented their work.
"It has been seven years since Virgilijus passed away. Looking back, we lived together for 36 years, and it is still difficult, not only because of his enchanting, persuasive singing. V. Noreika was an extremely emotional, sincere, and kind family man, an excellent teacher, stage partner, and authority for the entire Lithuanian cultural community," says L. Bartusevičiūtė-Noreikienė. "As his 90th birthday approached, we wanted him to be remembered not only by his closest friends and students, so we organized a series of musical events."
The concert at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was sold out as soon as it was announced. According to L. Bartusevičiūtė-Noreikienė, "Virgilijus loved life and people very much, and his popularity shows that people also remember him with great love." The maestro's widow says she is grateful to soloist Edgaras Montvidas, who dedicated a concert at the Pažaislis Music Festival to the legendary tenor, his teacher, in which more of the professor's students also performed, and the National Opera and Ballet Theatre is dedicating a performance of Turandot to the memory of V. Noreika on October 9.
