The international percussion festival “Percussion Ukmergė 2025”, which will be held in Ukmergė for the twentieth time, will become a bright cultural highlight not only for the city, but also for the whole of Lithuania. In March, the art of percussion will be reborn in new colors, and the most talented virtuosos of percussion instruments from Lithuania and abroad will appear on stage.
The artistic director of the festival, Arnas Mikalkėnas, is pleased that the event, which began its journey with academic music, has expanded to a wide genre spectrum: “This festival can truly be proud of being able to show a very wide amplitude of percussion music – from classical dedications to modern audiovisual interpretations.”
Highlights of the anniversary year festival
This year, the festival will pay special attention to the place of percussion in contemporary music and its synthesis with other instruments. “We want to show percussion not only as a solo instrument, but also as a powerful element of synthesis that can blend into both electronic and orchestral music,” says A. Mikalkėnas.
One of the most striking innovations of the festival is a performance by a jazz orchestra dedicated to the legendary percussionist Buddy Rich. Also, maintaining the tradition of premiere concerts, special electro-acoustic and audiovisual interpretations await, which will be presented for the first time by Domantas Razmus. Another impressive part of the festival is the residency of young composers, where new percussion opuses will be created and performed.
Percussion masters on stage
The festival will feature the most prominent percussion virtuosos. The program will feature talented performers: Vasco Trilla (Portugal), Trio – Pavel Giunter, Gleb Pyšniak and Guntars Freibergs (Latvia, Lithuania), Dominykas Snarskis and Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra (conductor and orchestra leader Kęstutis Sova).
According to the festival’s artistic director, it is extremely important to combine performances by recognized performers and young talents: “It is very important for us that the festival becomes a platform for young performers – students of the Ukmergė Art School will perform together with professionals. Such intergenerational friendliness not only motivates young talents, but also cultivates the future percussion culture.”
Festival organization and community support
Despite its international scale, the festival remains a champion of Ukmergė culture. A. Mikalkėnas thanks the team of the Ukmergė Cultural Center: “It is impossible to organize such festivals without a strong team. I especially want to single out Gražvyda Tušienė – she is a real driving force behind the festival, overseeing both organizational and artistic processes.”
The festival, which became a concert cycle last year, will continue the same format this year – after the first concerts in March, we will also hear percussion on May 30 and August 30. And now all music lovers can already mark March 5-11 in their calendar and prepare for an impressive percussion journey – “Percussion Ukmergė 2025” will not leave anyone indifferent.
You can find the full festival program here.
The international festival “Percussion Ukmergė 2025” is sponsored by the Ukmergė district municipality, the agricultural company “Egvila”, “Stansefabrikken” Ukmergė, Gastro Pub “Aš būsiu čia”, “Rockmerge” and Taujėnų dvaras. The festival’s patron has been the “Baltic American Concord” group of companies for more than 10 years. The festival’s patron is the Mayor of Ukmergė district municipality, Darius Varnas. The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. The project partners are “Jazz Academy” Kaunas and “Improdimensija”.
The festival is organized and information is shared by the Ukmergė Cultural Center.