The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1940. The musicians of the orchestra were drawn from several existing Lithuanian orchestras. Its first conductor and artistic director was Balys Dvarionas, a distinguished Lithuanian composer, pianist and conductor.
Since 1964 the orchestra has been working under the direction of JUOZAS DOMARKAS, its principal conductor, whose imagination and energy breathed new vitality into its development. The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra performs outstanding classical works as well as an impressive range of contemporary music composed by Lithuanian and foreign composers. The enormous repertoire thoroughly reflects the development of the symphony, cantata and oratorio – from G. F. Handel’s Concerto grosso to G. Ligeti’s Concert for Cello, from J. S. Bach’s Passions to O. Messiaen’s oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ, from J. Haydn’s to W. Lutoslawsky’s symphonies. The major part of the LNSO’s orchestral and concerto repertoire has been recorded.
The orchestra has welcomed leading soloists from Lithuania and all parts of the world: pianists M. Rubackyte, P. Geniusas (Lithuania), E. Gilels, D. Bashkirov, N. Petrov (Russia), D. Pollack (USA), J. Ogdon (Great Britain), violinists L. Kogan, V. Tretjakov, V. Spivakov (Russia), violoncellists M. Rostropovitch, N. Gutman (Russia), D. Geringas (Germany), conductors K. Masur, H. Kegel, J. Frantz, J. Wehnert (Germany), Ch. Bruch, J.S. Casadesus, C. Diederich (France), O.W. Muller (USA) and many others.
All members of the orchestra are professional and gifted musicians. Many of these players took leave to study with outstanding soloists and instrumentalists in Europe before they joined the ranks of the orchestra. The LNSO has participated in many international festivals, among them The Moscow Winter, The Prague Spring, Schleswig– Holstein Music Festival, Wratislavia Cantans, Festival of Baltic Countries in Sweden and International Festival of Contemporary Music in St. Petersburg.
The LNSO has toured France, Germany, Poland, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Norway and Sweden. In 1994 the orchestra performed in the Philharmonic of Cologne, London Barbican Center, Birmingham and Sheffield. The orchestra’s tours in 1995 included Austria, Slovenia, Italy (soloist M. Rostropovitch) as well as Japan. In 1996 the orchestra performed at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, later that same year it toured Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany together with the soloist Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1998 the orchestra toured Germany again with Mstislav Rostropovich and assistant conductor Robertas Servenikas.
In summer, 1999 it performed at the festivals in Evian (France), Gstaad (Switzerland), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Zagreb (Croatia), Rheingau and Mecklenburg – Vorpommern (Germany), Stresa (Italy), the famous Concertgewbouw hall. In November, 1999 the Orchestra toured Japan (Tokijo, Osaka, Kuji, Okinawa, Takamatsu) and Korea (Seoul).
In May 2000 the Orchestra gave three performance at the International Ankara Music Festival, in June-July – numerous performances at the international music festivals in Evian, Rheingau, Bad Kissingen and Schleswig-Holstein.
During the 2000/2001 concert season the Orchestra celebrated its 60th anniversary that was marked with the triumphant performances under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Cyril Diederich. In January 2001 maestro Rostropovich conducted the Orchestra at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. In summer 2001 the Orchestra intensively toured in Europe - Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia and Macedonia with Krzysztof Penderecki, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, John Neal Axelrod and Robertas Servenikas. In December 2001 the Lithuanian NSO performed in Pavia and Cologne Philharmonic with Mstislav Rostropovich as conductor and soloist.
During the years 2002/ 2003, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra performed over 20 different programs with Mstislav Rostropovich, Krysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Vadim Repin, Cyril Diederich, John Neal Axelrod, Murry Sidlin, Martin Yates at the numerous festivals in Europe: Ludwigsburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ljubljana, Ravenna, Stresa, Merano, “Emilia Romagna”, Colmar and many others. In spring 2003 the LNSO toured Sweden with renowned Swedish clarinet player Hakan Rosengren and Lithuanian conductor Robertas Servenikas.
