Opera diva Renée Fleming will give her first concert in Lithuania.

On the second day of St. On the first day of Easter, 18 April, a special celebration awaits all fans of classical music as Renée Fleming, one of the most popular soprano superstars of today, will give an exclusive performance in Kaunas, at Zalgirio Arena. The winner of four Grammy statuettes and the title of “The Golden Standard of Soprano” will present her programme “Renée Fleming In Concert”.

This gala concert is the biggest, most serious and highest quality event of recent years, as the opera diva will be joined on stage by the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas State Choir, and one of Lithuania’s most famous soloists, tenor Edgaras Montvidas, as a special guest. Maestro Constantine Orbelian (USA), well-known in the world of academic music, will be at the conductor’s chair.

Renée Fleming is one of the best known classical singers, performing in the world’s best opera houses and prestigious concert halls. Her combination of vocal mastery and extraordinary timbre, stylistic versatility and dramatic charisma make any performance by Renée Fleming a true gift for any music connoisseur.

Renée’s career includes 17 Grammy nominations and 4 statuettes, and she is a recipient of the US National Arts Award. Renée has sung at important occasions such as the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014, she appeared in a televised concert at the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2008, Renée became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to perform solo at the Opening Gala. To engage new audiences with classical music and opera, Renée frequently hosts live broadcasts (Opera in Cinema) of The Met: Live in HD, Live from Lincoln Center, etc.

Edgaras Montvidas is one of the most famous Lithuanian opera soloists, tenor. He studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in the class of Professor Virgilijus Noreika.

For his services to Lithuania, the soloist was awarded the Order of Merit Medal, the Ministry of Culture’s Honorary Badge of Merit “Carry Your Light and Believe”, the Kaunas City Municipality’s award – the Vileišis Medal of the Mayor of Kaunas, and the Golden Stage Cross in 2009 for his role as Werther in the opera “Werther”.

The Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra (KMSO) grew out of the Kaunas Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1988 and led by Algimantas Treikauskas since 2000. A nominee of the prestigious Grammy Music Awards, the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra is an integral part of the cultural life of Kaunas, Lithuania and the entire Baltic region.

Constantine Orbelian, a well-known conductor to all lovers of classical music, was born in 1956 in San Francisco to a family of Armenian immigrants. At the age of just 11, the pianist made his debut at the famous San Francisco Opera Theatre with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and word of the incredible success of the little prodigy spread around the world. A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, he played more than 750 concerts between 1980 and 1990, accompanying the Boston, Detroit, San Francisco, St Petersburg, Moscow Philharmonic, Moscow Virtuosi and other symphony orchestras. In 2001, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, given to emigrants or descendants of emigrants for their significant contributions to the culture, economy and politics of the USA. Since 2014, Orbelian has been the Principal Conductor of the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, the renowned musician was awarded the Santaka Medal of Honour, Second Class, for his promotion of Kaunas and Lithuania.

The Kaunas State Choir began its professional artistic activity on 23 October 1969. The choir has composed more than 200 large-scale vocal instrumental works from the Middle Ages to modern music, including oratorios, cantatas, masses, passions, concert and stage versions of operas, belonging to the treasury of the world’s classics. The ensemble has given more than 3000 performances in Lithuania and abroad. Over 75,000 people have listened to Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana in the Berlin Stadium; the choir has performed Handel’s oratorio Messiah over 80 times.