Matas Drukteinis and Juta Pranulytė, while still studying at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, organized the first festival, which they named the Young Composers’ Laboratory MUSIC IN SURROUNDINGS. The aim was to create an impetus for composers to experiment with expression and form, connecting contemporary music with social and urban-architectural dimensions.
After a one-year break, the idea took on a clearer festival concept, with a focus on continuity. It was decided that each year the festival would explore a specific theme related to sociocultural issues or challenges in the city. The chosen theme—neighborhoods—invited composers to reveal the unique sonic and musical characteristics of Vilnius’s various districts. For the first time, the festival received funding from the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
To further highlight the social dimension and bring contemporary music closer to the listener, the chosen theme was communities. The aim was to depict the lives of social groups in the capital by exploring and revealing their everyday environments through sound.
This year brings significant changes and challenges. One of the festival’s founders, Juta Pranulytė, steps down from the organizing team. She is replaced by composer Agnė Matulevičiūtė, who brings an interdisciplinary approach to festival. Despite the Lithuanian Council for Culture not providing funding this year, which threatened the festival’s future, the new duo of Agnė and Matas managed to organize the festival using their own resources. The festival was dedicated to famous writer Gavelis’s novel “Vilnius Poker” and was highly successful due to its chosen tour format.
The festival became international, featuring composers both invited and selected through an open competition. The engaging tour format, which allows listeners to experience the works in an immersive way, was retained. The festival’s schedule was set to take place at the beginning of September each year. The theme of stereotypes and the intriguing urban spaces attracted a large audience. The festival expanded in terms of events and partners, with the Lithuanian Composers’ Union becoming a strategic partner. The Lithuanian Council for Culture resumed its funding, and for the first time, the Vilnius City Municipality also contributed to the festival.
The first year of the pandemic brought chaos and uncertainty to the cultural field, but the festival still took place, paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the Lithuanian independency, which, according to Agnė and Matas, was not properly celebrated due to the pandemic. Composers explored the relationship between the state and the individual. The festival was funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Vilnius City Municipality, continuing its collaboration with the festival’s strategic partner, the Lithuanian Composers’ Union.
The festival selected a theme that Agnė and Matas had contemplated for several years—time. Although somewhat philosophical, it provided composers with the freedom to discover individual and intriguing musical interpretations. Special attention was given to the quality of the festival’s implementation, always challenging due to the technical and logistical demands of the events. Despite the second year of the pandemic, the festival maintained its international status and attracted a record number of attendees.
“Muzika erdvėje” began a series of themes dedicated to Vilnius’s 700th anniversary celebrated in 2023. Counting down the last months to the beginning of the festive years of Vilnius, the festival invited people to view the city as an archetype. From the TV Tower to the streets of the old town, the compositions captured the essence of Vilnius, highlighting the approaches that the composers wished to share.
Continuing the themes dedicated to Vilnius’s 700th anniversary, the festival launched a special events series titled “Music for Vilnius.” World-renowned composers such as Toshio Hosokawa, Heiner Goebbels, Michael Gordon, among others, composed music pieces for selected locations in the city. Wrapping up the festive years, the main program of the festival explored unknown, forgotten, and less representative places in Vilnius, inviting people to experience the full spectrum of the city and to get acquainted with all the colors of celebrating Vilnius.
