HISTORY

Vilnius municipal choir Jauna Muzika is one of the most prominent and most versatile vocal groups in Lithuania. Founded in 1989 at the initiative of the conductor and composer Remigijus Merkelys and its first director Algimantas Gurevičius, from 1992 its artistic director was the conductor and composer Vaclovas Augustinas. He is recognised in Lithuania for both popular and academic music, and was honoured with the National Culture and Art Prize in 2010. In 1994, Jauna Muzika became the choir of Vilnius city municipality, and in the same year Salomėja Jonynaitė took over as conductor. Since 2020, Ingrida Alonderė has been the choir’s leader.

The members of the choir are students and graduates of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. The number of singers ranges from 24 to 50, depending on the pieces performed. Jauna Muzika sees its mission as giving professional performances drawn from a rich choral music repertoire, as well as championing works by Lithuanian composers.

The choir’s repertoire covers music of all periods, including a cappella works, vocal-instrumental works, and opuses by contemporary foreign and Lithuanian composers. Jauna Muzika gives over 30 concerts abroad and in Lithuania every year. Thanks to its professionalism, the choir has won international recognition.

Jauna Muzika participates regularly in major festivals, and collaborates with famous ensembles and conductors: the Berlin, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem symphony orchestras, the Israel Camerata, the Moscow Virtuosi and the St Petersburg Camerata, as well as Lithuanian chamber and symphony orchestras.

Jauna Muzika not only performs but also organises important projects. It has coordinated choral music interpretation and conducting courses since 1995, and since 2008 it has coordinated Vox Juventutis, a competition of choral music by young composers. In the last decade, the choir has presented the opera-zarzuela DaliGala (2008) by H. Kunčius and G. Kuprevičius, a special project with the Stavanger Brass Band as part of the Vilnius – European Capital of Culture programme (2009), Out of Respect for MKČ (2011), J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor with the German State Rheinland-Pfalz Symphony Orchestra (2012), B. Kutavičius’ oratorio The Seasons at the Unesco headquarters in Paris (2014), the project Traveller’s Notes, together with the Merope ensemble, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the choir (2015), M. Kagel’s Kantrimusik and Mitternachstueck (directed by Oskaras Koršunovas) at the Concertgebouw Hall in Bruges (2015), Handel’s opera Semele (2017), and the project Nights, with the Merope ensemble (2019). On 13 March 2021, the choir opened the Imago Dei Contemporary Music Festival in Krems (Austria).

The choir has been conducted by Pinchas Steinberg, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Noam Sheriff, Frieder Bernius, David Shallon, Nicholas McGegan, Anders Eby, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Spivakov, Werner Pfaff, Simon Halsey, Hermann Max, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Manfred Honeck, William Boughton, Murry Sidlin, Avner Biron, Johannes Prinz, Bo Holten, Bob Chillcot, as well as Saulius Sondeckis, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Robertas Šervenikas, Donatas Katkus, Modestas Pitrėnas and Vytautas Lukočius.

Jauna Muzika’s concert tours have taken in European cities, China, Japan and Israel. It has appeared in world-famous halls such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Suzan Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, the Fredric R. Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Haifa Auditorium, the Bimot in Jerusalem, the Grand Hall of the Dresden Palace of Culture, the Ludwigsburg Theatre, the Matthias Church in Budapest, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the S. Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Hall, Berlin Festspiele Theatre, and Shanghai Opera House.

Jauna Muzika is a member of the International Federation for Choral Music. It has won first prizes and six Grand Prix in 15 international choir competitions, and the Grand Prix Europeo (1993), Golden Disc (2002) and Vilnius Sound (2003) awards. Music performed by the choir is featured on 19 CDs.