Time Portal: An event for Vilnius’s 700th anniversary in Cathedral Square

Different generations of musicians, but one common time for all of us, linking past and present. Our lives and our experiences are different, but there is one common Vilnius that belongs to all of us, and it is celebrating its 700th anniversary and opening Time Portal – a musical and visual journey that was started by Gediminas and continued by us, from generation to generation, responding to his letter through the ages by creating, building and growing this city, singing to it and about it.

Time Portal, which will open on 25 January in Cathedral Square, will bring together the most resounding voices of various generations, whose echo, just as Gediminas wrote, will spread throughout Lithuania, telling about the city, our capital, our Vilnius. Guests will hear and see a celebratory programme specially created for the anniversary, the axis of which revolves around musical works of various generations and genres that highlight historical and contemporary themes of Vilnius.

In Cathedral Square, we will immerse ourselves in a harmony of words, sounds, voices and images, in the continuous story of Vilnius as a city that belongs to all of us – not only the people of Vilnius, but all of Lithuania – and that was created by Gediminas through his letters, with his vision continued through the ages by other generations, who also raised us, the people who create, work and live in Vilnius today.

The anniversary concert will feature Andrius Mamontovas, Monika Liu, Mantas Jankavičius, Ieva Barbora Juozapaitytė, Saulius Petreikis, the groups Solo Ensamblis and Freestarz, the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, the New Ideas Chamber Orchestra (NICO), and many other performers who will meet in Cathedral Square, which will be transformed into an unconventional stage illuminated by Time Portal signs– visual images of the past and present marking the beginning of the Vilnius Light Festival, which will begin after the concert.