We opened this season at the end of August 2025, when creators and producers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia gathered in Aknīsta (Latvia) for a residency organised by the Baltic Contemporary Opera Network, where they got to know one another and began developing their first joint creative ideas within international teams.
We kicked off the season for promoting our repertoire with a tour abroad: in September, Arturas Bumšteinas’ Baroque Theatre noise machine performance “Navigations” (from the “Bad Weather” series) was presented at the contemporary music festival “Ultima” in Oslo (Norway). The musical performance “Sports Group” took part in the Lithuanian cultural season programme in Italy – it was presented at the renowned “Romaeuropa Festival”. Other works also found their way to prestigious venues at the performance biennale “Performa” in New York (“Spores”) and continued the cultural season in Italy at the “Polis theatre festival” in Ravenna (“Radvila Darius, Son of Vytautas”).
During the 2025–2026 season, 114 events took place, including eight performances abroad. A range of contemporary music theatre productions and concert programmes also toured extensively throughout Lithuania, reaching audiences in Alytus, Klaipėda, Anykščiai, Kaunas, Ukmergė, Šiauliai and the Ignalina district (at Paliesius Manor).
This season was particularly rich in premieres and co-productions with Lithuanian theatres and international organisations: the Šiauliai State Drama Theatre, two productions with the Vilnius Old Theatre, and the New York performance art biennial “Performa”.
And the highlight of the season – marked by no fewer than seven premieres – was the 9th NOA Contemporary Opera Festival, held from 18 to 26 October 2025, which featured a total of eight works performed at various venues across the capital:
- musical memories from family video archives, “The Festival of Songs”;
- oratorio “in the Forest”;
- documentary fiction “Anonymous Dances”;
- alphabetised love story LLLLOVE;
- harmonies and dissonances whilst mushroom picking with a therapist, “Spores”;
- imaginary opera by M. K. Čiurlionis, “Jūratė”;
- telephone booth opera “Things I Didn’t Dare to Say, and It’s Too Late Now”;
- festival closing concert “Have a Good Day! REMIX”.
The premieres of the 9th NOA works were accompanied by meetings and discussions between the creators and the audience, as well as the launch of the vinyl record of “Things I Didn’t Dare to Say, and It’s Too Late Now”. This season also brought the telephone booth opera a particularly significant victory at the international contemporary music theatre competition “Music Theatre NOW”, paving the way for international acclaim and wider dissemination. In May 2026, the composers of the winning works attended one of the largest new opera festivals in Rotterdam, where they personally presented their works to a large gathering of international producers.
We brought the theatre season to a close with a production of George Frideric Handel’s opera “Acis & Galatea”. It premiered on 19 and 20 June at the Vilnius Old Theatre, as a co-production between “Operomanija” and the theatre. “Acis & Galatea” marked the successful debut of director Paulius Markevičius in the opera genre and was the result of a memorable collaboration with the guru of historically informed early music performance – the British harpsichordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock.
The 2025–2026 season brought much joy through numerous accolades and achievements. At the start of this year, “Operomanija” was granted the status of a Vilnius City cultural organisation for a further three-year period. The imaginary opera “Jūratė” by M. K. Čiurlionis was shortlisted for the Classical:NEXT Innovation Awards’ TOP-10 shortlist. Three performances co-produced by “Operomanija” – “Jūratė”, “Spores” and “Anonymous Dances” – were among the nominees for the “Golden Stage Cross” awards; The Golden Stage Cross was awarded to the dancer-actor duo Sigita Mikalauskaitė and Telman Ragimov for their parts in M. K. Čiurlionis’ imaginary opera “Jūratė”. In its selection of the most outstanding works of 2025, the Lithuanian Composers’ Union awarded the prize to the oratorio “in the forest” composed by Albertas Navickas. It was particularly gratifying that last season’s premieres attracted not only large audiences and listeners, but also received exceptionally wide coverage (42 reviews) in the Lithuanian and international media.
Alongside premieres, tours and networking projects, the organisation carried out educational activities and publishing projects, along with diverse presentations of “Operomanija’s” activities in Lithuania and abroad. LRT broadcast a radio documentary titled “When I Think of the Forest”, reflecting on the creative process behind Albertas Navickas’ oratorio “in the forest”, whilst the community choir (“Sodas Choir”) initiated by us at the “Sodas 2123” culture complex, celebrated its third season.
International relations were further developed and expanded through the activities of the Baltic Contemporary Opera Network. In early 2026, artists and producers of contemporary music theatre from the three Baltic countries took part in a creative residency in Tallinn. The season concluded with yet another residency: in July, more than 20 creators from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland gathered for residencies in Klaipėda and Nida to further develop international creative teams and conceptual ideas, and to refine works currently in the early stages of creation. Following this creative residency, it was decided to extend the Baltic contemporary opera network to the Nordic countries as well. We plan to present the first results of these creative residencies – international co-productions of new works – in the Baltic states as early as 2027 and 2028.
One season seems to have almost come to an end, whilst a new one is already beginning. As early as 4 August, “The Festival of Songs” by Karolis Kaupinis will be performed at the Kaunas National Drama Theatre as part of the contemporary performing arts festival “ConTempo”, whilst “Operomanija” is busy preparing for the second Lithuanian Performing Arts Platform, scheduled for September. Organised in collaboration with the Lithuanian Theatre Centre and the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre as part of the Vilnius International Theatre Festival “Sirenos”, the event will bring together a host of producers and artistic curators from abroad. In September, M. K. Čiurlionis’ imaginary opera “Jūratė” is set to sail to the Klaipėda State Musical Theatre, where a new, expanded version will premiere, whilst a more intimate version of the piece will continue its run on the stage of the Vilnius Old Theatre during the new season. In September, we will also be travelling to Japan with the opera “Have a Good Day!”. And this is just the beginning…
So, as one season draws to a close, another begins: thank you for joining us last season, and we look forward to seeing you in the new one! You can now purchase tickets for some of the events of the 2026–2027 season, which have been announced on the “Operomanija” website.
“Operomanija” is supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, LRT, Vilnius City Council, and Nordic Culture Point (the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme).