20 YEARS OF BOHEMIEČIAI: FOUR EVENTS | FREE ADMISSION

See young Asmik Grigorian and Edgaras Montvidas. Experience Dalia Ibelhauptaitė’s direction at the time when the “Bohemiečiai” phenomenon itself was born. See Gintaras Rinkevičius with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra at the very beginning of this twenty-year journey. And discover the legendary costumes by Juozas Statkevičius from the early “Bohemiečiai” productions – bold, unexpected, and unforgettable to this day.

And the productions that one generation saw live, while another has heard legends about them.

Vilnius City Opera is celebrating its 20th anniversary and invites the city to celebrate together by bringing the first decade of “Bohemiečiai” back to the big screen.

In 2006, the phenomenon that soon became known as “Bohemiečiai” began with La Bohème. Around Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Juozas Statkevičius, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, and a young generation of soloists, a new world of opera emerged.

It was a time when opera in Vilnius became young, bold, theatrical, and alive. When Lithuanian soloists who today perform in the world’s greatest theatres were growing on stage. When a production could be not a respectful museum exhibit, but an event in a contemporary city.

During their first decade, “Bohemiečiai” created 13 operas and one musical – from La Bohème, Werther, and Sweeney Todd to Eugene Onegin, Manon Lescaut, and Il Trovatore.

For this anniversary, four productions have been selected from the archives – four stops on a journey through which we can once again see how this phenomenon was born and developed.

PROGRAMME

• 09.17 · 20:00

Giacomo Puccini LA BOHÈME

• 09.18 · 20:00

Jules Massenet WERTHER

• 09.19 · 19:00

Stephen Sondheim SWEENEY TODD – THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

• 09.20 · 19:00

Giuseppe Verdi IL TROVATORE

One hour before each screening – live discussions and meetings.

15 minutes before the broadcast – reflections by musicologists.

On a giant screen, with a high-quality sound system, the productions will come to life in Town Hall Square.

But it will not only be the performances that return.

It was a time when today’s famous names were young, when risks were taken, and no one yet knew what it would all become.

Today, we know – these were not simply several successful productions.

It was a generation.
It was a new language of opera.
It was a phenomenon.

Town Hall Square was chosen for a reason – last autumn, thousands of people gathered here for the screening of No Repeat: Macbeth.

This year, the journey goes even further.

Four evenings. Four productions. One unforgettable first decade of “Bohemiečiai”.

For those who were there – a chance to return.
For those who were too young – a chance to finally see what everyone has been talking about all these years.

“BOHEMIEČIAI” – 20.
Forever young.

The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vil