Sun music festival

International Sun music festival showcase is dedicated to world, folk, instrumental, traditional, ethno music among other genres. The festival’s aim is to present emerging local and foreign artists to the Lithuanian public. The festival consists not only of musical performances, but also includes the local community by hosting various educations, masterclasses, discussions and presentations related to world music. The festival was founded in 2021 by the Vilnius Teachers' House and the Saulės muzika institutions.

Information about last year's festival (2022).The 2nd International World Music Festival "Saulės muzika" brings together musicians from Estonia, Sweden, Denmark and Lithuania. The performances were attended not only by Vilnius residents and visitors to the capital, but also by neighbours from the Baltic States and guests from further - Slovakia and Belgium. The performers and the festival programme were evaluated by foreign music experts.

This year's Sun Music Festival programme lasted 9 days. During this time, joint concerts were held at the Vilnius Teachers' House and St Catherine's Church. Free masterclasses and music education sessions organised by the festival became a special attribute of the event, with over 260 participants registered.

An important innovation of this year's festival is the creation of a showcase platform - the Artist Showcase. Invited music experts from the neighbouring Baltic States, Belgium and Slovakia watched the performances and had the opportunity to network with local performers and invite them to perform abroad.

"The size and format of the festival is ideal for experiencing local and regional music and getting to know the players on the Baltic folk/world scene," says Juris Zalāns (LV), Project Manager at the LAUSKA Cultural Management Centre.

"I was impressed by the variety of performers - from well performing children to mature professionals, from songwriters, folk musicians to electronic music", comments Tarmo Noormaa (EE), NGO Manager of the Estonian Centre for Traditional Music and Director of the Viljandi Folk Music Festival.

"A good, small, cosy Nordic-style world, folk and jazz music festival. I wish it to grow, I wish it to discover", - this is how music reviewer Domantas Razauskas (LT) describes the festival.

"I really like the fact that this festival is family-friendly. Families come not only to the concerts, but also to the workshops", says guitarist Andre Maaker (EE), who has given masterclasses and a concert programme at the festival.

Saulius Petreikis, the main organiser and initiator of the festival, hopes that next year will offer an even wider range of Nordic sounds. "The main aim of the festival is to present new age folk music, attracting performers from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic States. We will continue to develop masterclasses, present unprecedented archaic instruments, and try to inspire listeners, as well as music professionals working in Lithuania, to take an interest in world music," he says.