The Cultural Landscape of the Litvaks in Šiauliai: From Music and Art to Living Memory
Organised by the Šiauliai Cultural Centre. Most events are free of charge.
Memory remains alive as long as we return to it – not only to remember, but also to listen, see and understand. Lithuanian Jewish culture is not a separate or closed chapter of our history. It grew in the same cities and towns, resonated through their streets and lived in everyday life, language, music, literature and art. Part of this world was irretrievably lost, but its legacy remains – in works of art, people’s stories, the memory of cities and a culture that we can rediscover today.
This is precisely the kind of relationship with the past offered by the event series “The Cultural Landscape of the Litvaks” – one that goes beyond bearing witness to history and seeks a living connection with what was created and what continues to speak to us today. This autumn, the programme will extend across the Šiauliai region, with cultural dialogue moving through a variety of spaces – from the Šiauliai Cultural Centre Gallery “Laiptai” and the “Saulė” Concert Institution to a church and historic synagogues throughout the region. Concerts, exhibitions, literary readings and meetings with artists will offer an opportunity to experience Litvak culture as a multi-layered part of Lithuania’s shared culture, where past and present, personal stories and the universal language of creativity come together.
“When we speak about Litvak culture, we often turn first to history, but we want to show that it is not only about the past. It remains alive in music, art, literature, artists’ stories and our own cultural memory. That is why, through this series of events, we invite people not only to learn or remember, but also to experience – to hear the music, see the artworks, meet and talk. I believe that it is through this living connection that we can best understand just how many different cultural layers are contained within our shared Lithuanian history,” says Kristina Alseikė, Event Organiser at the Exhibitions Department of the Šiauliai Cultural Centre.
The event series “The Cultural Landscape of the Litvaks” opened on 4 September at 7:00 PM at the “Saulė” Concert Institution in Šiauliai with the ceremonial International Joseph Achron Music Festival concert “Needle of Light”. The concert featured the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and “Duettissimo”.
On the evening of 9 September, two artistic languages – visual art and music – will meet at the Šiauliai Cultural Centre Gallery “Laiptai”. At 5:30 PM, an exhibition of photographs and sketches by Aleksandra Jacovskytė and paintings by Adomas and Marijus Jacovskis will open. A. Jacovskytė’s photographs and drawings reveal a sensitive perspective on surroundings, people and moments, while the paintings of A. and M. Jacovskis offer different approaches to colour, form and imagery. The work of these three renowned artists will come together in a unique artistic dialogue within one family, while each retains their distinctive creative voice. Admission to the exhibition opening is free.
At 6:30 PM, the chamber music concert “Vocalise” will begin at the Šiauliai Cultural Centre Gallery “Laiptai”, featuring performers particularly beloved by Šiauliai audiences: Asta Krikščiūnaitė (soprano), Milda Umbrusevičiūtė (piano) and Gleb Pyšniak (cello). Works by André Previn, Joseph Achron, Nadia Boulanger, Jules Massenet and Kurt Weill will lead audiences from wordless vocalise to theatrical song, from the tenderness of a lullaby to the longing of an elegy. The music will speak of what words sometimes fail to express – love and loss, waiting and loneliness, tenderness and the human need to be heard. Tickets cost €14, or €7 with a discount.
On 14 September at 6:00 PM, the chamber music concert “Premieres” will take place at Gallery “Laiptai”, bringing together violinist Dalia Dėdinskaitė and Swedish pianist Martin Sturfält. The title of the evening is no coincidence – Joseph Achron’s Sonata No. 2 and Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Sonata will be performed in Lithuania for the first time. The programme will also feature “Little Summer Music” by internationally acclaimed Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, dedicated to the composer’s 80th anniversary. Thus, Litvak musical heritage, Swedish Romanticism and the contemporary sensitivity of Baltic music will meet in a single evening.
On 17 September at 5:00 PM, an exhibition of paintings by the Vilnius Jewish Community Art Studio “Art Vilna” will open at the Juozas Liaudanskis Art Gallery of the Kelmė Cultural Centre. Active for more than a decade, the studio brings together artists devoted to art, many of whom only began drawing and painting after the age of fifty. The studio members are guided by Professor Ieva Skauronė, Rector of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and their works reveal stories of traditions, connections within a multicultural community, and human fragility and strength. At the same time, the exhibition serves as a reminder that it is never too late to create and that there is no single correct path – art can become a way to preserve memory, discover one’s roots and engage in dialogue with others.
At the end of September, the programme will move to historic venues across the region, where the memory of Jewish communities is inscribed not only in documents, but in the buildings themselves. On 25 September, the chamber music concert “For the Whole Family” will take place at the Žagarė Cultural Centre, while the concert and literary programme “Song of Memory” will be held at the Pakruojis Synagogue. On 26 September, the same programme will also be presented at the Žagarė Synagogue. As music and words return to these spaces, history will not only be remembered – it will once again become part of a living cultural encounter.
Literature will return to the programme of “The Cultural Landscape of the Litvaks” on 29 September at 6:00 PM at Gallery “Laiptai”. During a literary evening dedicated to Markas Zingeris (1947–2023) and Jokūbas Skliutauskas (1925–2004), their texts will be read by actors Andrius Bialobžeskis and Aleksas Kazanavičius. Both authors devoted considerable attention in their writing and public activities to the historical traumas of the 20th century, the preservation of memory and traces of Jewish culture in Lithuania. The evening will explore how different generations have reflected in literature on the tragedy of the Holocaust, the lost Jewish world of Kaunas and Lithuanian-Jewish relations. Their texts will serve not only as testimony to history, but also as an opportunity to ask how the past remains present in individual and collective memory.
On 2 October at 6:00 PM, the chamber music concert “Per Giunt and van der Pals” will take place at the Joniškis Red Synagogue, while on 18 October at 6:00 PM, the International Joseph Achron Music Festival will conclude with the farewell concert “A Travel Guide to Nicaragua” at St George’s Church in Šiauliai.
The event series will conclude on 25 November at 6:00 PM at Gallery “Laiptai” with the presentation of the publication “Jewish Folk Art in Contemporary Lithuania”, offering a more detailed introduction to the work of the “Art Vilna” Art Studio. Symbolically, this several-month journey through music, art, literature and historic spaces will end with a publication preserving another testimony to Jewish culture being created in Lithuania today.
It is hoped that the music heard, artworks exhibited and texts read throughout the autumn in Šiauliai and the Šiauliai region will serve as a reminder of a simple yet important truth: Litvak history and culture are not a story about “others”. They are part of the history of our cities, our culture and our shared Lithuania.
For further information, please contact Kristina Alseikė, Event Organiser at the Exhibitions Department of the Šiauliai Cultural Centre, mobile +370 658 80 507, email kristina.alseike@siauliukc.lt.
Photos by Rolandas Parafinavičius and Darius Ančerevičius.
Atnaujinta: 2026-09-29 14:40