Planning a trip to Lithuania next year? Start the summer with the wonderful experience of a song festival in Lithuania. From June 29 to July 6, 2024, Lithuania will celebrate the 100th anniversary of this special event, which includes folk dancing, folk art and music. Over 39,000 Lithuanians have already registered as participants, with a record 2000 more to be coming from abroad. At least half of the registered singers are children, a truly joyful sign that such festivals will continue far into the future.
In all, there will be 24 groups from the US, 7 from Canada and 14 from Poland. Other groups participating for the first time will be from Luxemborug, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Norway and Ukraine, with three groups coming from Belgium, Latvia and Estonia.
A pre-festival concert will be held in Kaunas on June 29. The first gathering, at Vilnius City Hall Square on June 30 will be a special event called “Unite Lithuania”, with Lithuanians from communities around the world and ethnic groups from within Lithuania staging exhibitions, workshops, food-tastings and performances. On the following days, the program includes a craft fair for children, folk art exhibitions, theatre performances, a special “kanklės” (zither) concert, and several other musical performances, leading up to the great parade from Cathedral Square to Vingis Park for the crowning moment, the main song concert.
For information, visit www.dainusvente.lt.
