Two “Glorias” and Special Guests at the VU Choirs’ Season Closing Concert
Two “Glorias” and Special Guests at the VU Choirs’ Season Closing Concert
The concert will take place on Saturday, May 16 at 19:00 in St. Johns' Church. French and Lithuanian ensembles will perform two different settings of Gloria by composers from different eras: the rarely performed in Lithuania Gloria by neoclassical composer Francis Poulenc and the Gloria of the 18th-century Italian Baroque master Antonio Vivaldi. The program will also include a selection of works by popular contemporary choral composers.
Two soloists will appear with the ensembles: soprano Gunta Gelgotė and mezzo-soprano Nora Petročenko. The harmonium part will be performed by renowned Lithuanian organist Vidas Pinkevičius, assisted by Aušra Motūzaitė-Pinkevičienė.
“VU choirs will conclude this concert season with an exceptionally bright and joyful program, so we invite listeners not to miss the opportunity to hear it, as well as to enjoy such an excellent choir from the French capital,” said VU choirs’ artistic director and chief conductor Rasa Gelgotienė. She noted that recent close cooperation with French ensembles has enabled Lithuanian audiences to discover more French repertoire.
The concert is organized by the Vilnius University Culture Centre, which unites 16 artistic groups and creative studios and annually invites both the university community and the wider public to a variety of cultural experiences.
Special Guests – The Paris Choir
Choeur de Paris is one of France’s leading large-scale choral ensembles, bringing together more than 50 singers. Its repertoire spans a wide stylistic range, from Baroque masters to contemporary composers. Each year the choir prepares around ten different concert programs.
The ensemble pays particular attention to rarely performed or unjustly forgotten works and frequently collaborates with distinguished soloists and young orchestras. The choir is an active participant in Parisian cultural life, performing in renowned churches and cultural venues across the city.
Since its founding in 2012, the choir has been led by the distinguished German-born conductor Till Aly. Born in Berlin, he began his musical career there before studying piano, organ, choral conducting, and orchestral conducting at the Dresden University of Music. He further refined his craft with such prominent European masters as Sylvain Cambreling, Helmuth Rilling, and Fabio Luisi. Till Aly has appeared as a guest conductor with major German radio institutions including WDR, SWR, and MDR, and has conducted concerts and masterclasses in the United States, Asia, and South America.
About the Composers
Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) was one of the most colorful French composers of the 20th century, known for a unique style that combined aristocratic elegance with the simplicity of street music. His music is characterized by exceptional melodic sensitivity, transparent harmony, and the ability to shift within moments from carefree humor to deep sadness.
Rejecting both German Romanticism and French Impressionism, Poulenc embraced clarity, wit, and direct emotional expression. Critic Claude Rostand famously described him as “half monk, half rascal.”
A personal crisis and religious conversion in 1936 profoundly changed Poulenc’s artistic direction, after which sacred music became central to his work. His Gloria, written for soprano, mixed choir, and orchestra, was commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation. Although based on the liturgical text, Poulenc interprets it in a highly personal way, combining solemnity with unexpected lightness and even playful, everyday intonations. His Gloria resembles a refined French sketch drawn in one continuous graceful line.
Antonio Vivaldi
The concert will also present the Baroque-era perspective on the same liturgical theme through the music of Antonio Vivaldi. Living from 1678 to 1741, the Baroque genius brought unprecedented energy and drama to orchestral music.
Vivaldi’s works are distinguished by virtuosity and innovation. He was among the first composers to create what is now known as program music, vividly depicting natural sounds through music. His energetic rhythms and bright melodic writing later had a profound influence even on Johann Sebastian Bach.
Although immensely popular during his lifetime, Vivaldi died in poverty and was largely forgotten until the early 20th century, when musicologists discovered that Bach had transcribed and adapted concertos by “a certain Vivaldi” for organ and harpsichord. This sparked renewed interest in the Italian composer whom Bach himself considered a teacher.
A major breakthrough came in 1926, when a monastery in Piedmont decided to sell old manuscripts to fund repairs. Musicologist Alberto Gentili realized that the manuscripts were unique Vivaldi works. After several years of searching, another part of the collection was also found. In total, around 300 concertos, operas, and sacred works previously believed lost were rediscovered.
Vivaldi’s Gloria is one of the masterpieces of Baroque sacred music, remarkable for its energy, joyfulness, and clear structure. The work masterfully combines operatic brilliance with deep spiritual solemnity: powerful choral sections intertwine with transparent and intimate solo episodes, creating a magnificent atmosphere of light and hope.
Although originally written for the girls of Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, the work’s universal emotional power and melodic richness have made it one of the world’s most frequently performed choral compositions and a hallmark of the Baroque era.
The VU Ensembles’ Connection with France
The collaboration between the VU choirs and Choeur de Paris began in 2023, when VU choirs’ director Rasa Gelgotienė met maestro Till Aly during a tour in Paris. Together they agreed to perform a large-scale classical work.
In 2024, marking the centenary of the death of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, Gaudeamus and Choeur de Paris performed Puccini’s Missa di Gloria and Giuseppe Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri at Saint-Roch Church in Paris. In 2025, Pro musica and the French choir performed Verdi’s Requiem at the same venue.
All VU ensembles maintain close artistic ties with France. Just a month ago they presented joint concerts in Vilnius with the renowned Sorbonne University Choir and Orchestra. In 2021, Gaudeamus and the VU Chamber Orchestra performed a Christmas oratorio in the heart of Paris at La Madeleine.
In 2023, the VU choirs presented the Lithuanian Song Festival repertoire in France. In 2024, Virgo performed at opening events of the “Lithuanian Season in France” at the Sorbonne and near the Centre Pompidou. In December 2024, Gaudeamus performed at Saint-Roch Church in Paris, and during Easter 2025 presented Franz Liszt’s Via Crucis at the Château de Compiègne together with internationally acclaimed pianist Mūza Rubackytė.
In December 2025, the VU ensembles — Gaudeamus and the VU Chamber Orchestra — together with the Sorbonne University Choir and Orchestra held a concert in the prestigious Grand Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University.