"…The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra is really marvellous! It just needs more opportunities to appear in the world in order to show itself!

Going together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra to the Wiesbaden Festival will be a challenge for both the Orchestra and me because many excellent orchestras of the world, even such as Pittsburgh’s and New York’s have played there. Therefore, appearing at the same concert halls, we are going to risk and take up a struggle with equal partners and we do not expect that the audience, critics, or organizers of the festival will make any concessions to us…"

Mstislav Rostropovich, 2000

 

Founded in 1940 by Lithuanian composer, conductor and pianist Balys Dvarionas, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) remains one of the most experienced and reputable symphony orchestras in Lithuania. Over almost seven decades of its artistic development, the orchestra has played a vital role in the development of national culture and musical life.

 

"… Mature style and a splendid performance allowed the LNSO to gain favourable recognition of both the audiences and critics, and to form a huge repertoire reflecting the evolution of symphony, cantata and oratorio. From Georg Friedrich Händel’s Concerti grossi to Ligeti’s Cello Concerto, from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passions to Olivier Messiaen’s Transfigurations, from symphonic works by Joseph Haydn to those by Witold Lutosławski — the breadth of their repertoire betrays the efficiency and the role of the Orchestra in the cultural life of Lithuania…"

Finlandia Records, 2003

 

A 96-piece orchestra currently consolidates the outstanding forces of Lithuania’s finest musicians led by a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Prof. Juozas Domarkas, who has served as its Artistic Director and Chief Conductor since 1964. Other regular conductors with the LNSO are Robertas Šervenikas and Modestas Pitrėnas.

The bulk of the LNSO’s repertoire consists of classical and romantic masterpieces spiced by the most innovative 20th-century scores and nearly all the symphonic works written by Lithuanian composers.

 

The LNSO plays around 50 concerts throughout the country a year, most of them in the Main Auditorium of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius. On its international tours each year, the LNSO has repeatedly performed in most of the European countries, Japan and Turkey, and in some of the world’s greatest concert halls and major festivals, including the Musikverein in Vienna, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, London’s Barbican Centre, Tokyo Metropolitan Space, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Stars of Moscow, Russian Winter, Warsaw Autumn, Prague Spring and Ludwigsburg Festival.

 

The roster of conductors who led the LNSO includes historical figures and international celebrities, such as Balys Dvarionas, Saulius Sondeckis, Jonas Aleksa, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Masur, Justus Frantz, Cyrill Diederich, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Spering and Richard Hickox. The Orchestra has partnered many great instrumentalists and singers of various generations and nationalities, such as singers Montserrat Caballé, Jessye Norman, Sergei Larin, Violeta Urmana, Virgilijus Noreika, Algirdas Janutas; pianists Emil Gilels, Dmitri Bashkirov, Daniel Pollack, Mūza Rubackytė and Petras Geniušas; violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonid Kogan, Vladimir Spivakov and Vilhelmas Čepinskis; cellist David Geringas, violist Yuri Bashmet and many others.

 

ORCHESTRA MEMBERS

 

Artistic Director and Principal Conductor – JUOZAS DOMARKAS

Conductor – ROBERTAS ŠERVENIKAS

Assitant to the Principal Conductor – MODESTAS PITRĖNAS

 

First Violins

Algimantas Peseckas (Leader)

Almina Statkuvienė

Barbora Domarkaitė-Armonienė

Aurelija Urbietienė

Borisas Traubas

Vytenis Grigas

Giedrė Žiliukaitė

Algirdas Šimėnas

Rita Viselgienė

Izolda Andriukaitienė

Danutė Žygienė

Vilija Valančauskienė

Martynas Grigas

Agnė Švagždytė

 

Second Violins

Rolandas Sinkevičius (Leader)

Vilija Peseckienė

Algirdas Jonas Verbauskas

Jūratė Juodelienė

Justina Plauškaitė

Rasa Kubilienė

Giedrius Antanas Butautas  

Violeta Barkauskienė

Ingrida Elena Giunter

Vitalius Emilijus Petronis

Sonata Skeivelienė

Lina Miniutė

Nomeda Gatelienė

 

Violas

Arūnas Statkus (Leader)

Vitalija Raškevičiūtė

Aušra Vileikienė

Henrikas Marcinkus

Dovilė Sauspreikšaitytė

Georgijus Rancevas

Eglė Delkutė-Kloufi

Olga Lužnova

Ramutė Marcinkienė

Remigijus Vitkauskas

Daiva Valentaitė

Jekaterina Zacharova

Ramunė Miknienė

 

Cellos

Edmundas Kulikauskas (Leader)

Raimundas Jasiukaitis

Valentinas Kaplūnas

Virgilijus Vasiliauskas

Arvydas Malcys

Rūta Bagurskienė

Kęstutis Eidukonis

Vilija Veličkienė

Lionius Treikauskas

Dainius Misiūnas

 

Double Basses

Arnoldas Gurinavičius (Leader)

Jonas Paulikas

Arvydas Kurklinskas

Povilas Tautkus

Virginijus Prieskienis

Ramūnas Šlekaitis

Balys Petras Simaitis

Aleksandras Cvetkovas

 

Flutes

Valentinas Gelgotas (Leader)

Violetas Višinskas

Darius Gedvilas

 

Oboes

Romualdas Staškus (Leader)

Justina Gelgotaitė

Tomas Bieliauskas

Cor anglais

Lukas Sarpalius

 

Clarinets

Antanas Taločka (Leader)

Andrius Žiūra

Dainius Platūkis

Bass Clarinet

Aidas Kančauskas

 

Bassoons

Alfonsas Ančerevičius (Leader)

Šarūnas Kačionas

Jonas Lesys

Contra Bassoon

Artūras Mikoliūnas

 

Horns

Mindaugas Gecevičius (Leader)

Linas Dakinevičius

Paulius Lukauskas

Vytautas Štrapenskas

Steponas Einikis

Zigmantas Augaitis

Marius Rancovas

 

Trumpets

Igor Kramarev (Leader)

Domas Memėnas

Darius Mišeikis

Remigijus Šereckis

Laurynas Lapė              

 

Trombones

Rimantas Valančius (Leader)

Marius Balčytis

Bass Trombone

Egidijus Miknius

 

Tuba

Sergijus Kirsenka (Leader)

 

Percussion

Kostia Akopian (Leader)

Zenonas Bagavičius

Vladislavas Šeibakas

Saulius Astrauskas

Artūras Zimblys