Held in Vilnius every year since 1991, GAIDA is the biggest and most renowned festival of contemporary music in Lithuania and one of the most important forums of new music in Central and Eastern Europe. In the last ten years the festival has become a prestigious event not only for music lovers from Vilnius and Lithuania but also for foreign audiences attending the festival concerts in increasingly large numbers.

VILNIUS FESTIVALS' main partner in organizing GAIDA Festival is the Lithuanian Composers' Union.
Other institutions participating in various aspects of holding a successful festival are Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Center, etc. The main funding institutions are Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Vilnius City Municipality, Lithuanian Foundation for the Support of Culture, Culture Programme of European Commission, other foundations, embassies of foreign countries and private sponsors.

One exceptional feature of GAIDA Festival is its embrace of music from all traditions and geographical sources.
Many top-class ensembles have participated in GAIDA, such as:
- London Sinfonietta, Arditti Quartet, Apartment House, Gavin Bryars Ensemble, Michael Nyman Band (UK),
- Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, MusikFabrik, Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart (Germany),
- Les Percussion de Strasbourg, Court-Circuit, Les Temps Modernes Lyon, IRCAM (France),
- Steve Reich And Musicians, Robert Ashley Ensemble (USA),
- Nieuw Ensemble, Orkest de Volharding (Netherlands),
- Ostrobothnian chamber orchestra, Avanti! (Finland),
- Kairos, KammarensembleN (Sweden),
- Ensemble BIT20, Cikada (Norway)
- Alter Ego (Italy),
- leading collectives from Baltic countries - Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Latvian Radio Choir, Kremerata Baltica, GAIDA and NYYD Ensembles,

also well-known soloists, conductors:
- Christian Lindberg (trombone), Hakan Hardenberger (trumpet), B Tommy Andersson (conductor), Helen Jahren (oboe), Magnus Andersson (guitar) from Sweden,
- Mike Svoboda (trombone), David Geringas (cello), Camilla Hoitenga (flute), Caroline Stein (soprano) from Germany,
- Meredith Monk (composer and singer), David Moss (actor and singer), Anthony de Mare (piano) from the USA,
- Irvine Arditti (violin), Sarah Leonard (soprano), Paul Hillier (conductor), James Wood (conductor) from UK,
- Kari Kriikku (clarinet), Anssi Karttunen (cello), Pia Freund (soprano), duo Pan Sonic from Finland,
- Fátima Miranda (singer-performer-composer), Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo (conductor) from Spain,
- Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Jean-Francois Laporte (sound artist) from Canada,
- Pierre-André Valade (conductor), Franck Ollu (conductor) from France

and famous composers:
Mauricio Kagel, Lepo Sumera, Arne Nordheim, Luca Francesconi, Kaija Saariaho, Michel van der Aa, Tristan Murail, Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, Michael Gordon, Steve Reich, Peter Eotvos, Jonathan Harvey.

The most important features of the festival:

GAIDA covers and presents a broad sweep of the latest musical tendencies, fashions, and creative processes in Lithuania, Europe and the world.
GAIDA introduces Vilnius audiences to the finest achievements of world contemporary music. The most well-known musical performers are invited to the festival, and the most successful pieces of music are performed.
GAIDA reflects and initiates the living creational process of Lithuanian music. Only the newest Lithuanian musical works, specially commissioned from our composers, are presented during the festival. No other festival held in Lithuania commissions as many works from Lithuanian composers as GAIDA.
GAIDA presents works from many different genres: from chamber music and symphonic concerts to electronic music, multimedia projects, music theatre, sound installations and club events.
GAIDA's program is meticulously chosen and assembled by a commission of musical specialists - the festival's repertoire committee.
The events of GAIDA Festival take place in the main concert halls of Vilnius: the National Philharmonic, National Opera and Ballet Theatre, National Drama Theatre, Congress Palace, and Town Hall.
In the last 10 years audience interest in GAIDA festival has grown remarkably, a fact that is amply demonstrated by the full concert halls. The concert audiences comprise different spheres of society: people of all ages from a variety of fields of interest, but mostly - curious and creative academic youth. Festival's listeners are typically open-minded and keen to accept the novelties of the capital city, its enthusiastic inhabitants and the abundance of guests from other Lithuanian towns and particularly from abroad.

Today GAIDA Festival is the most significant institution responsible for fashioning the image of modern music in Lithuania and inspiring its creators. The festival seeks to present the most interesting musical works of modern day Lithuania and the world, and to initiate new projects involving performers of international importance. The initiatives of the festival have great meaning for modern music performance traditions development in Lithuania.

In 2005 GAIDA Festival was accepted to the network of most important European festivals of contemporary music „Reseau Varese".

In 2006 GAIDA Festival won the right to host ISCM World Music Days 2008 which was organized in Vilnius from October 24 to November 8, 2008.

GAIDA Festival usually takes place in the second half of October.

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