For the 20th time the international percussion music festival “Percussion Ukmergė 2025” brought together percussion music lovers from Lithuania. From 5-11 March, the festival invited to concerts, solo performances and even premieres. “We are delighted that Percussion Ukmergė attracts more and more talented performers and listeners every year, and that percussion is becoming more and more accessible to a wider audience,” said Arnas Mikalkėnas, the festival’s artistic director.
Gala concert at Taujėnai Manor
Although the festival officially opened with the first concert on 5 March, featuring Portuguese percussionist Vasco Trilla, the percussions rang out in the Ukmergė district on 8 March. It was Vasco Trilla who opened the gala concert at Taujėnai Manor – the percussionist impressed with his innovative sounds and improvisational skills, extracting incredible tones from traditional and unexpected objects. In the second part of the concert, the audience applauded the trio of Pavel Giunter, Gleb Pyšniak and Guntars Freibergs (Latvia). The musicians presented an impressive repertoire of classical percussion compositions as well as modern pieces combining percussive rhythms and cello sounds.
“Audiovisual Collage”
Every year the programme of the International Percussion Music Festival “Percussion Ukmergė 2025” features at least one premiere. This year, drummer, percussionist and composer Domantas Razmus made his first solo performance, presenting his premiere album “Scratching the Surface”.
“You see drums in front of you that don’t make any sound on their own, but they are programmed by a computer to make sounds. Each sound will be unique – behind me, you will see images that will be ‘triggered’ by the music I play. You will see how image and sound correlate with each other,” is how drummer D. Razmus introduced his performance.
The workshop
The festival officially kicked off with the Musicians’ Workshop, which brought together percussionists from different countries: Vasco Trilla (Portugal), Arkadijus Gotesmanas (Lithuania), Arnas Mikalkėnas (Lithuania), Gabija Burbulytė (Lithuania), Pavlo Pavlosiuk (Ukraine), Oleksii Lupashko (Ukraine), and Nikita Menkov (Estonia) to work together. For several days the participants worked on collaborative pieces and presented their joint works to a live audience at concerts in Kaunas and Ukmergė.
“The workshop for composers and percussion ensemble is a project that focuses on the dialogue between the composer and the performer, where the musical works become a joint result, without diminishing or elevating the person in the role of the composer or the performer,” is how the workshop was introduced by Jazz Academy Kaunas.
Lithuanian Independence Day and percussion
Traditionally, the commemoration of Lithuanian Independence Day in Ukmergė is marked by percussive rhythms. The celebrations were opened by Mikas Kurtinaitis, Dovydas Stalmokas and the percussion ensemble of the Ukmergė Art School (director Arnas Mikalkėnas). Later, the audience gathered at the Ukmergė Cultural Centre for the concert “Tribute to Buddy Rich”, featuring the Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra (conductor and orchestra leader Kęstutis Sova) and drummers Mindaugas Vaškys, Viačeslav Krasnopiorov and Oleksii Gmyria (Ukraine).
The festival continues: what’s next?
“The March concerts of Percussion Ukmergė 2025 went off with a bang, but the festival is not over yet. We will also hear percussion on 30 May and 30 August, so the festival organisers invite you to mark your calendars and stay tuned for news about upcoming concerts!
The international festival “Percussion Ukmergė 2025” is supported by the Ukmergė District Municipality, the agricultural company “Egvila”, “Stansefabrikken” Ukmergė, Gastro Pub “I’ll be here”, “Rockmergė” and the Taujėnai Manor. For more than 10 years, the festival has been sponsored by the Baltic American Concord Group of Companies. The patron of the festival is the Mayor of Ukmergė District Municipality Darius Varnas. The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. Partners of the project are Jazz Academy Kaunas and Improdimensija.
The festival is organised and information is shared by Ukmergė Culture Centre.
Photos by Dainius Vytas.
