On the last Saturday of summer, August 30, the Ukmergė Cultural Center invited everyone to a special day-long festival called “Summer Was Yesterday.” It became a rhythmic, cheerful, and meaningful summer grand finale, bringing together townspeople and guests to welcome autumn together. The festival program included music, cinema, educational activities, and entertainment for the whole family.
Entertainment for the youngest and oldest festival visitors
The festival offered a variety of experiences for participants of different ages. The music zone hosted a series of concerts as part of the international percussion music festival Percussion Ukmergė 2025: drum workshops with percussionist Vytautas Švažas and evening concerts with the Klaipėda jazz orchestra combo group AFROJAZZBEAT. In the cinema zone, visitors could see Charlie Chaplin’s silent film The Kid, the animated film Potvynis, and the feature film Pietinia kronikas. Younger viewers and families were treated to attractions, a craft fair, and plenty of tasty treats. The event was crowned by Pijus OPERA, well known on the Lithuanian scene, and his band, who created a particularly lively and energetic farewell to summer.
Closing of the 20th International Percussion Ukmergė Festival
“Summer was yesterday” marked the closing of the 20th anniversary International Percussion Music Festival Percussion Ukmergė 2025. During the drum workshop, Vytautas Švažas revealed the secrets of drum making and donated the drum he made from natural leather to the Ukmergė Cultural Center. From now on, this instrument will become a symbolic sign of the opening and closing of the annual festival.
The Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra combo group entertained festival visitors with their “AFROJAZZBEAT” program, while in the film zone, Arkadij Gotesman, a performer well known to all percussion music fans, provided the soundtrack for Charlie Chaplin’s silent film.
The percussion festival has ended – the percussion festival begins
“The Percussion Ukmergė festival will definitely take place next year,” said Arnas Mikalkėnas, the festival’s artistic director. The events of the anniversary festival inspired the organizers to create a new festival program. Mikalkėnas promises that in 2026, the festival will invite visitors to hear new rhythms, meet new performers, and even visit new concert venues.
“This year’s festival showed that percussion is alive, inspiring, and unifying. Next year, there will be even more surprises,” said A. Mikalkėnas.
The event “Summer Was Yesterday” was supported by the Ukmergė District Municipality, UAB BAC, and UAB Stansefabrikken. The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Lithuanian Film Center. The event was organized by the Ukmergė Cultural Center. The event was publicized by the newspapers Gimtoji žemė and Ukmergės žinios.
Photos by Dainius Vytas
