This year the festival “Operetta at Kaunas Castle” takes place for the fourteenth year already. Just like every year, Lithuanian and foreign performers participating in concerts and events present a colourful mosaic of both popular and rare stage music to the loyal audience.

Several years in a row the first concerts of the festival summon its audience already in May, while the last accords sound in the end of September. Extraordinary experiences and intriguing encounters take place in the most adorable stages and sceneries of Kaunas. Moreover, this year’s programme includes several contrasting occasions.

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The programmes of the initial concerts are ruled by the beautiful and eternally charming Neapolitan song. The melodies, some of which are well known, and some of which are rare, will be performed by the young generation of singers, who already astonish listeners with vocal mastery and their artistic abilities and some of who already have remarkable roles in operas, operettas, and musicals. 

Pagan in its origin Neapolitan song derives from an Italian region famous for its captivating nature. Temperate rhythm of sea-waves and melodies that radiate cosy warmth of sunlight enchant and fascinate not only those who listen to it, but those who perform it, as well. The Neapolitan song obtained its official status in 1830, with the beginning of annual Piedigrotta festivals, when melodies and texts were especially composed for this occasion.

The creativeness of the Neapolitan song reached its peak in the end of the 19th century, when a large number of great poets and composers from Naples wrote them. In half a century they created what is now considered the golden fund of Neapolitan songs, which are successfully used by famous world performers until today. Songs like “O Sole Mio”, „Torna a Surriento“, „Funiculì Funiculà“ became world-famous and were dispersed by emigrants from South Italy, who spread it in different countries in 1880-1920. The most famous authors of Neapolitan song melodies were Luigi Denza (1846-1922), Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916), Pasquale Mario Costa (1858-1933), Eduardo di Capua (1865- 1917), Emanuele Nutile (1862 – 1932), Ernesto de Curtis (1875 – 1937), Enrico Cannio (1875 – 1949), and Cesare Andrea Bixio (1896-1978).

A huge influence on the popularity of Neapolitan song was caused by the famous tenor Enrico Caruso, who included the popular Neapolitan music into his concert repertoire. His example was later followed by most of world-famous opera singers-tenors.

The never fading popularity of the Neapolitan song amazes. It is incredible, how often we hear these melodies in concerts, they are sometimes remade, rearranged for unlikely music instruments, nonetheless, when we hear the first accords, there is suddenly a sparkle in the eyes of the listeners, there is a smile on their faces and many of them begin to hum the familiar melody.

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In the festival of 2015 Neapolitan songs are performed by: Ieva Goleckytė, Ingrida Kažemėkaitė, Sandra Lebrikaitė, Karolina Ščiuckaitė, Andrius Apšega, Paulius Bagdonas, Povilas Padleckis, and Osvaldas Petraška. The singers are accompanied by The Vytautas Magnus University chamber orchestra, chief conductor since this year’s spring – Jonas Janulevičius. The presenter of the concerts – Ieva Vaznelytė.

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The main occasion of this year’s festival – the grand anniversary of the Lithuanian professional ballet. In 2015 there is a 90 year anniversary of the Lithuanian professional ballet in Kaunas, since the beginning of it’s artistic movement in the Theatre of State. On this occasion one of the main concerts which will take place by the Kaunas Castle is dedicated to the acquaintance with the young Lithuanian ballet dancers who study in The National M.K.Čiurlionis School of Art and their contemporaries from the second homeland of ballet – Russia, which will be represented by the young ballet artists of the world-famous Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (in 2014 the People’s artist of the Russian Federation Nikolay Tsiskaridze was elected as the new Rector). A very complex programme, which beautifully reflects achievements of the art of dance was selected to commemorate this grandiose anniversary of the Lithuanian ballet: the international team will perform the prologue from the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” by Piotr Tchaikovsky, as well as classical and modern dance compositions. The conductor from St. Petersburg Aleksey Vasiliev, who participates in this festival for the very first time, will direct the whole evening’s musical course and conduct the united chamber orchestras of students from the N.Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and the Vytautas Magnus University’s Music Academy.

The second great concert “The Music of Kaunas Castle” will be dedicated to the traditionally promoted genres of the festival – operetta and musical, with a tint of jazz. The singers who will appear in the concert: Virgilijus Noreika, Jelena Mirtova, Carlos Silva, Ieva Goleckytė, Ingrida Kažemėkaitė, Nelė Kovalenkaitė, Gitana Pečkytė, Rita Preikšaitė, Kristina Siurbytė, Viktorija Streiča, Aistė Širvinskaitė, Raminta Vaicekauskaitė, Ieva Vaznelytė, Kęstutis Alčauskis, Andrius Apšega, Raimondas Baranauskas, Tomas Ladiga, Povilas Padleckis, Tomas Pavilionis, Laimonas Pautienius, Jeronimas Milius, Ramūnas Urbietis, Žanas Voronovas, and Mindaugas Zimkus. Instrumental compositions will be performed by a saxophonist, key-player, arranger, and composer Liutauras Janušaitis and a trumpeter Dainius Radomskis.

The orchestra of the concert -  the united chamber orchestras of students from the N.Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and the Vytautas Magnus University’s Music Academy, conductor – Sergei Roldugin (Russia), Jonas Janulevičius, Julius Geniušas, Virgilijus Visockis. Director of the concert – Kęstutis S.Jakštas.

A newly created band – the BRASS BAND of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre will perform in the final concerts of the festival. It is a new ensemble of brass instruments, inspired, created and directed by a horn-player Andrius Dirmauskas. 

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Since the very first “Operetta at Kaunas Castle” festival (in 2002) the organizers of this event have invited the spectators to more than 75 concert programmes which featured over 260 singers from Lithuania and 21 European countries. The concerts have also featured 28 Lithuanian and foreign conductors. 18 various ensembles have been included in the programmes, and over 1000 different titles of musical works have been performed during the concerts, including a specially prepared opera-mystery “The Path of the Crown”.

The presenters of the events at the Kaunas castle are Gintaras Mikalauskas, a famous actor and presenter of various State and festive events and TV shows, who is with the festival since its very first year, and his assistant-presenter since 2007, singer Ieva Vaznelytė.

 Lina Stankevičiūtė