“Banchetto musicale“ Brings Early Music to Vilnius

The “Banchetto musicale“ festival, taking place in Vilnius from 3 to 22 October, will invite audiences to concerts and events of early music, where historical sounds will meet theatre, literature, cinema and contemporary creative ideas. This year, the festival programme will unfold across different venues in the city, with some of its key events taking place at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.

 

The festival programme at the Palace will open on 3 October with the concert “BALTIC STAGE. A Meeting with King Sigismund Vasa.” The Latvian early music ensemble “Concerto Riga” will take audiences back to the 17th century, when composer and violinist Adam Jarzębski worked at the court chapel of Sigismund Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in Warsaw. Works by Jarzębski, as well as by Italian violin virtuosos Biagio Marini, Giovanni Battista Buonamente and other contemporaries, will be performed on historical instruments.

 

The tickets can be found here. 

 

A special festival day awaits audiences on 10 October. From midday until the evening, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania will host “A Day at the Palace – Enchanted by the Ancient”, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Banchetto musicale ensemble. The diverse programme will feature the early music ensemble Ludus and countertenor Rūdis Cebulis from Latvia, “Banchetto musicale” founder and artistic director Jūratė Mikiškaitė-Vičienė, historical novelist Ilona Skujaitė, actress and director Emilija Latėnaitė, and Gitana Platakytė, director of the film “Virsmas”, dedicated to Catherine Jagiellon. Music, literature, theatre and film will offer different perspectives on the ensemble’s four-decade journey.

 

More information about the event can be found here. 

 

The festival aims to demonstrate that the early music tradition is not confined to the past – it can remain vibrant, open to new ideas and unexpected encounters. This will be particularly evident on 17 October at “Fringe Day Live”. The climbing centre “Montis Magia Loft” will host a stage for young performers, where festival-selected artists will present their own interpretations and dialogues with early music. Admission is free.

 

The festival will culminate on 22 October with the closing concert “Muera Cupido” at the Merchants’ Club. Spanish Baroque theatre music will be performed by the renowned ensemble “Accademia del Piacere”, led by its artistic director and viola da gamba virtuoso Fahmi Alqhai, together with internationally acclaimed soprano Núria Rial. The programme will open up the colourful world of the 17th-century Spanish stage, where theatricality, dance rhythms, emotional drama and instrumental virtuosity come together.

“Banchetto musicale“  

 

Lithuanian Council for Culture

Vilnius City Municipality

 

National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania

Trakų Vokė Manor

LNDM Museum of Applied Arts and Design

“Montis Magia” Climbing Centre

Merchants’ Club

Cathedral Apart-Hotel

Feel Reel

Ministry of Culture of Spain

Andalusian Agency for Cultural Institutions