“I would like to create a symphony from the murmur of waves, the rustling of centenary forest, the shimmering of the stars, our little songs and my unending longing.” – Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

This quotation is taken from a letter, written in St. Petersburg in November 1908, to his fiancé and future wife Sofija Kymantaitė, composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) has summarised in one sweeping sentence his most important sources of inspiration and his life’s ambition – to combine sound and colour in a single work of art, and to express in it the grandeur of nature together with the soul of his beloved Lithuanian nation.

Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) has been active for more than seven decades. Leadership of Vilnius City Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1940, was entrusted to a famous composer and conductor Balys Dvarionas. In 1964, a new stage started with a young conductor Juozas Domarkas, who took his place at the orchestra’s podium. After the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, in 1990 the Orchestra was given the name and status of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Playing around 50 annual concerts, the LNSO nurtures unique traditions significantly contributing to fostering of the high music culture, encouraging the artistic ambitions of young Lithuanian composers and performers, indulging the audience with both large-scale opuses certifying the Orchestra’s maturity, as well as symphonic miniatures prompting the imagination of the listeners.