The start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in Riga was marked by the Concert in St. Peter’s Church
On 1 July at the invitation of the Lithuanian Embassy in Latvia Vilnius municipality choir “Jauna muzika” led by the conductor and composer Vaclovas Augustinas gave a Concert in St. Peter’s Church in Riga marking the start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. A welcome word was made by H.E. Mr. Ričardas Degutis, Ambassador of Lithuania to Latvia. The choir “Jauna Muzika” was founded in 1989 and the next year will celebrate twenty five years of the concert activity. The choir is an active promoter of Lithuanian composers Lithuania and abroad, initiates a creative and educational projects, performing together with famous Lithuanian and foreign soloists, orchestras and conductors.
The members of the choir are professional musicians – graduates and students of the Lithuanian Academy of Music. Depending on the repertoire being performed, the number of singers ranges from 24 to 50. Jauna Muzika is a very active choir, and arranges over 60 concerts at home and abroad every year. The choir’s mission is to present an extremely diverse and valuable a cappella choral repertoire.
Alongside a cappella works, the choir performs with Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and during numerous concert tours – with foreign orchestras, such as the Tel Aviv Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Camerata, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Berlin Soloists, the Moscow Virtuosi, the St. Petersburg Camerata, the Novosibirsk Camerata and Novosibirsk Chamber Orchestra.
The choir has toured in Europe, China, Japan and Israel, appearing at the most famous concert halls, such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Suzan Dellal Center (Tel Aviv), the Fredric R.Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv), the Haifa Auditorium, Bimot (Jerusalem), Festsaal Kulturpalast (Dresden), Ludwigsburg Theater im Forum, St Mathias Church (Budapest), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), the S. Rachmaninov Hall (Moscow), the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Hall, the Berlin Festspiele Theater, and the Shanghai Opera House.
Lithuania is the first among the Baltic States on 1 July 2013 for the first time taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Latvia and Estonia takes their turn in the first half of 2015 and 2018.
