PIANO MUSIC NIGHT “JUODAIS BALTAIS” | CULTURE NIGHT 2026 – OPEN ACADEMY
June 12, 2026, Friday, 8 pm.–1 am.
Lukiškės Square, Vilnius
PIANO MUSIC NIGHT “JUODAIS BALTAIS” | CULTURE NIGHT 2026 – OPEN ACADEMY
8:00–11:30 p.m. – LMTA Piano Marathon
12:00–1:00 a.m. – recital by pianist Petras Geniušas
The unique piano music concert “Juodais Baltais” has continued its traditions since 2009, when LMTA professor Petras Geniušas gave a recital at Vilnius Lukiškės Square during the “Culture Night” festival, performing music by Ludwig van Beethoven. In 2011, young pianists – the most talented LMTA students and graduates – joined the project, and their solo performances have since become the core of the piano marathon programme.
Nurturing deep traditions of piano performance, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre presents the unique two-part project “Juodais Baltais” as part of the “Culture Night” programme, featuring performances by talented young LMTA pianists and laureates of international competitions.
The young LMTA pianists will perform some of the most beautiful piano opuses from the Romantic and Impressionist eras, while at midnight pianist Petras Geniušas will present a unique programme infused with improvisations and compositions from the Romantic era as well as the 20th and 21st centuries.
Organizer: Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre
Free admission. You are warmly welcome!
OPEN ACADEMY / Culture Night 2026
During “Culture Night”, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre opens its spaces to the city and invites audiences on a journey through music and theatre stretching from the halls and corridors of LMTA’s central building to Lukiškės Square and the new stage of the Theatre and Dance Faculty at the Study Campus. This year’s programme brings together different art forms, generations, and sound worlds – from Mozart’s music and experimental electronics to theatre and piano performances under the open sky.
At the beginning of the evening, visitors at the Academy will be able to discover a variety of musical experiences. In the J. Karosas Hall, audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear almost all of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s songs for voice and piano performed on an authentic 18th-century fortepiano. At the same time, LMTA corridors will transform into a vibrant experimental music space, where the electronic music ensemble will perform an electronic version of Terry Riley’s minimalist composition In C, in which improvisation, pulse, and collective creativity create a different sonic experience every time.
Theatre also plays an important role in LMTA’s “Culture Night” programme. Audiences are invited to visit the new LMTA Theatre and Dance Faculty Hall on Olandų Street, where the performance The Little Witch will be presented. This warm, playful, and imaginative story about a young witch will become an invitation to discover the works of emerging theatre creators and the Academy’s new spaces.
Lukiškės Square will traditionally become the central point of the evening, hosting the piano music night “Juodais Baltais”. Since 2009, the project has become an inseparable part of “Culture Night” – featuring open-air performances by young LMTA pianists and, at midnight, a recital by Professor Petras Geniušas. This year, the concert will once again connect different Lithuanian cities – for the third time, “Juodais Baltais” will be livestreamed to six locations across Lithuania, expanding the piano music night beyond Vilnius.
This year’s LMTA programme invites audiences to experience the Academy as a vibrant, open, and constantly evolving cultural space, where music and theatre move beyond traditional stages into squares, corridors, and unexpected meeting places, and where one night becomes an opportunity to hear, see, and experience the Academy in an entirely different rhythm.