Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre
Lithuania's national opera and ballet company in a 1974 modernist house beside the Neris.
The Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre traces its company back to 1920, when a professional opera ensemble began work in Kaunas, then the provisional capital. The troupe moved to Vilnius after the Second World War and performed in the city's older theatre buildings for almost three decades. Its present home on the bank of the Neris opened in 1974 to a design by Nijole Buciute, one of the few large Soviet-era cultural buildings in Lithuania designed by a woman, and it remains the country's principal stage for opera and ballet.
The auditorium seats roughly a thousand people and is reached through a tall glazed foyer hung with chandeliers of cast glass. The company maintains its own orchestra, chorus and ballet troupe, and each season mixes standard repertoire such as Verdi, Mozart and Tchaikovsky with Lithuanian works and newly commissioned productions. Alongside evening performances the theatre runs matinees aimed at children and families, and it has collaborated with the OperaVision platform to stream selected productions to audiences outside Lithuania.
Highlights
- Modernist 1974 building by Nijole Buciute on the Neris embankment
- Resident opera company, ballet troupe, chorus and orchestra
- Glass-clad foyer with large cast-glass chandeliers
- Family matinees alongside the main evening repertoire
