TERRY RILEY “IN C” | CULTURE NIGHT 2026 – OPEN ACADEMY
June 12, 2026, Friday, 9:00–9:50 p.m. and 11:00–11:50 p.m.
Second Floor Corridor of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Gedimino Ave. 42, Vilnius)
TERRY RILEY “IN C” | CULTURE NIGHT 2026 – OPEN ACADEMY
The LMTA Electronic Music Ensemble will perform an electronic version of Terry Riley’s In C, inviting listeners into a constantly evolving sonic experience filled with collective freedom.
The electronic version of Terry Riley’s In C opens up a new perspective on one of the most important works in the history of minimalism. Through computer-generated sounds and improvisational structures, the composition becomes a continuously changing and renewing soundscape where pulse, repetition, and collective creativity merge together.
The aesthetics of electronic music further emphasize the openness and freedom of In C – every performance sounds different, and no two versions of the piece are ever the same.
Since 2019, the LMTA Electronic Music Ensemble has explored the boundaries of electronic sound as a creative laboratory of the LMTA Composition Department. The ensemble brings together students from various disciplines interested in electronic music performance, free improvisation, and the search for new forms of expression, often combining acoustic instruments with electronics.
This is a space where not only compositions are performed, but new approaches to music composition are discovered – a place where curiosity meets musical collaboration.
Artistic director:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jonas Jurkūnas
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 “Black on White”. 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, “Black on White” 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.