Chosen Location
Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
Savičiaus str. 15
The installation is open on Wednesdays 5:00–7:00 PM
If you want to visit the installation other time or find more information on guided tours around the church, contact by e-mail.: info@ramintoja.lt or by phone: +370 610 37574
Visiting the installation is free of charge.
The installation is open to visitors during the warm season. This year – until 18 of October.
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World premiere of the composition for the Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
Installation preview
Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
Savičiaus str. 15
TICKET PRICE: 15–30 EUR
World premiere of the composition for the Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
Installation visit
May 14
12:00–8:00 PM
Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
(Savičiaus str. 15)
PRICE:
15–30 EUR
We offer a comprehensive guided tour that provides visitors with an enriching experience.
Our team member will guide you through the Heiner Goebbels’ installation, providing insights into its creation, a broader overview of the composer and his works, and an introduction to the impressive history of the Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation. When purchasing tickets, choose a time slot for a guided tour with our team member. Group sizes are limited to five participants, and the duration of the tour is 40 minutes.
- WORLD PREMIERE
- PORTRAIT CONCERT
Portrait concert of music by
Heiner Goebbels
May 12
6:00 PM
Vilnius City Hall
(Didžioji str. 31)
PRICE:
15–28 EUR
We invite you to an unforgettable evening of music as we present some of the most famous and widely performed compositions by Heiner Goebbels. Part of them will be performed in Lithuania for the first time. As a special treat, the composer himself will be present at the concert and will personally greet the audience. Join us for the experience of the magic of Heiner Goebbels’ music.
PROGRAM
- Herakles 2 (for brass quintet, percussion and sampler, 1992)
- Samplersuite – from Surrogate Cities (ensemble version, 1994)
- Surrogate – for Piano, Percussion and Vocals (2015)
- Sometime – from Songs of Wars I have Seen (for trumpet and Temple Bowls, 2007)
Performers:
LENsemble Vilnius (creative director – Vykintas Baltakas)
Rita Mačiliūnaitė (narrator), Augustė Jenatjeva (flute), Paulius Viščius (clarinet), Kęstutis Abaris (clarinet), Ieva Taujanskaitė (bassoon), Marta Etxezarreta (horn), Povilas Stonkus (trumpet), Andrius Stankevičiustp (trumpet), Paulius Balčytis (trombone), Danielius Patrikas Kišūnas (tuba), Sigitas Gailius (percussion), Rūta šeduikytė (percussion), Paula Bogatyriūtė (sampler), Jonė Punytė (piano), Viktorija Smailytė (harp), Adriana Černiukaitė (violin), Dina Novikova (violin) Kamilė Sabašinskaitė (viola), Kornelija Morkevičiūtė (cello), Aušvydas Kriščiūnas (doublebass)
Conductor – Vykintas Baltakas
Concert duration: ± 1 h 15 min.
Doors open: 5:30 PM
Composer Talk: Heiner Goebbels
May 11
7:30 PM
Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation
Savičiaus str. 15
FREE OF CHARGE
Presentation of the Book "Aesthetics of Absence" by Heiner Goebbels
Goethe's Institute in Vilnius presents
May 12
7:30 PM
Vilnius Town Hall (Chamber Hall)
Didžioji str. 31
FREE OF CHARGE
HEINER GOEBBELS
I want to look for something that hasn’t been said or answered yet – I want to give the audience a different perception of music.
Heiner Goebbels is German Composer and director, born 1952, living in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin. He belongs to the most important exponents of the contemporary music and theatre scene.
Goebbels created internationally celebrated compositions for ensemble and large orchestra (Surrogate Cities, A House Of Call), music-theatre pieces (Max Black, Eraritjaritjaka) staged concerts (Songs of Wars I have Seen), radio plays, sound- und video installations (Documenta, Centre Pompidou, Museo da Arte, Bogota among others). His CDs are published by ECM Records.
In 1999 – 2018 Goebbels was a Professor at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at Justus Liebig University, Gießen, now he is the first holder of the Georg Büchner Professorship at Center of Media and Interactivity. Composer was the Artistic Director of Ruhrtriennale – International Festival of the Arts in 2012 – 2014. He is author of the anthology “Aesthetics of Absence” (Routledge, 2015) that is famous among readers and translated in different languages.“The Comforter is situated in a small side-wing of the Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation, which – during the rough history of the church – ended up becoming a car repair. Here everything is present: the aesthetics of the architecture and it’s religious determination, the various destructions over the centuries by wars and fire, temporary restorations as well as the abuse when the church became a warehouse. It is a truly anachronic space, in which plural temporalities through the centuries are in conversation across times.”
Heiner Goebbels
The five audio tracks represent a composition for church organ, including pieces of the 16th, and 18thcentury by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Johann Sebastian Bach, prepared instruments with industrial drone sounds and a choice of historical wax cylinder recordings, made by Eduard Wolter in Lithuania at the beginning of the 20th Century, 1908/1909.
They are part of the first known collection of Lithuanian Folklore Sound Recordings, preserved in the Berlin Phonogram Archive, and presented here with its kind permission.
The main video projection represents a flock of 100 sheep guarded by a zeppelin during a performance of De Materie directed by Heiner Goebbels – set-and light design by Klaus Grünberg – during Ruhrtriennale – International Festival of the Arts at Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, 2014. Filmed by René Liebert.
Heiner Goebbels recorded the organ, prepared and filmed the several string instruments in Berlin and Frankfurt in 2022/2023.
Artistic collaboration René Liebert
Church of Saint Virgin Mary
of Consolation
The church is a symbol of our friable history and freedom.
Algirdas Toliatas, priest
Church of Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation tells a complex yet inspiring story about the change of times, challenges and difficulties, as well as longevity, strength, and the importance of the community. It is a resurrection story.
In the middle of the 17th century, the Augustinian monks settled in the vicinity, and instead of the burned and demolished Kuzma and St. Damijon’s churches built the wooden church of the Augustijani monastery. Unfortunately, it burned down in 1742 during the terrible fires in Vilnius. The brick church we see today on Savičius Street was built in 1768. She was baptized in St. Augustijani. In the name of the Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation. The Church was surrounded by the monastery, where until 1831 was also housed a seminary, school and library.
This church is the last building of the late Baroque period in Vilnius, with only one church tower, the tallest in the city and atypical for the style. It used to have 12 altars, none of which remain today, and the main one was decorated with a picture of Mary of Consolation, which has disappeared. Its current location is still unknown.
19th century – the period when Lithuania was part of Tsarist Russia marked a change for the church. In 1812, when the French army occupied Vilnius during Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s Great War with Russia, an ammunition warehouse was installed in the church. After the 1831-1832 rebellion and the closure of the Imperial University of Vilnius, which operated in the former premises of the monastery, a priest’s seminary was established in this place, where Motiejus Valančius also worked. In 1854 the church was closed and converted into an Orthodox St. Andrew’s Church. Occupants built an Iconostasis, disassembled the monks’ choir, demolished the pulpit and ornate rococo altars with sculptures, and the picture of the Saint Virgin Mary of Consolation was taken away. The organ and the portrait of Vytautas the Great, founder of the first Augustinian monastery in Lithuania, which hung here for some time, were transferred to the Archcathedral.
In 1919 the Church was returned to the Roman Catholic faithful and restored. However, the 20th century was even more ruthless to the building: in 1944 it was destroyed by fire and in 1962 converted into a warehouse. In the middle of the century, the condition of the building was so bad that the Soviet authorities considered demolishing it. Still, in 1969 the building was handed over to the Union of Lithuanian Cooperatives, which repaired it – brutally dividing the space into three floors with ceilings, installing staircases and an elevator. The former sacristy even had a garage with a transfer winch for handling cars or bulky loads. The church was used as a storage room until 1991, after which it was returned to the Catholic community.
In 2017, the church was handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On 2018 June 8, Archbishop of Vilnius Metropolitan Gintaras Grušas consecrated the chapel of Saint Mary the Virgin of Consolation, and the Church opened its doors again to the faithful.
LENsemble VILNIUS
Ieškau naujos japonų dvasinės kultūros ir muzikos išraiškos. Tokios, kuri leistų būti atviram man pačiam ir mano šaknims. Kaip tauta, turime atidžiau persvarstyti Vakarų pasaulį, kad patys save galėtume vertinti objektyviau, kad iš tiesų save pažintume.
Užrašas ant Vilniaus universiteto observatorijos sienos
Artistic director and conductor – Vykintas Baltakas
Initiated by Vykintas Baltakas, LENsemble Vilnius (Lithuanian Ensemble Network) connects professional ensembles, soloists and conductors.
LENsemble consists of: the Chordos String Quartet, Kristupas Wind Quintet, Kaskados Piano Trio, Vilnius Brass Quintet, accordionist Raimondas Sviackevičius and others. LENsemble is working with established institutions of contemporary music in Lithuania and abroad, such as the Lithuanian Composers’ Union, Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre, Lithuanian Academy of Music and theatre, Goethe-Institut Vilnius and Karsten Witt Musikmanagement Berlin.
LEN is proud about its performances at the WDR (2009), at the Ruhr European Capital of Culture (2010), Ultraschall Festival Berlin (2013), Gaida Festival, Flagey Brussels, Concertgebouw Brugge, tours in Serbia, Egypt, Poland, Latvia and its recordings for Kairos, Megadisc Classics, WDR, Deutschland Radio Kultur, WDR, etc. In 2011 LENsemble started the concert series Composers of our time, featuring the influential international and lithuanian composers.
Informacija ruošiama.