On the evening of 10 October, six composers, six works and the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra will come together at Vilnius Town Hall. At the Gala Concert of the Laureates of the 6th International St. Christopher Composers’ Competition, the evening’s greatest question will finally be answered: which composers’ works will receive the competition’s highest awards?
This year, six works have been selected for the final, representing Lithuania, Ireland and Wales, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Germany. The finalists span different generations and creative backgrounds – from emerging composers to established artists whose music is already performed in international concert halls and festivals. For one evening, their works will meet on a single stage, in the ceremonial setting of Vilnius Town Hall.
The final programme will open up six distinctive worlds of contemporary music.
Anselm McDonnell’s An Drúcht Ceo reflects on the history of Northern Ireland, the memory of political conflict and the fragility of peace, weaving echoes of traditional Irish music together with late-Romantic harmonies.
Justina Repečkaitė’s Almageste II, inspired by Ptolemy’s astronomical treatise, creates a microtonal universe of sound in which harmony, pulsation and time are brought together within a distinctive system based on numerical proportions.
Gerson de Sousa Batista’s Change of Heart is a musical journey through turbulent soundscapes and emotional states, moving from chaos and inner transformation towards an acceptance of change.
In Kateřina Horká’s The Fast Tempo of Life, a continuous rhythmic pulse conveys the flow of time, movement and vital energy – an ever-accelerating life in which situations and experiences return in constantly changing forms.
Moritz Laßmann’s Helix builds its musical architecture on the principle of a spiral: the music emerges from the lowest registers of the cellos and double basses, gradually rises through the string voices, gathers momentum and drives towards an energetic climax.
Gustė Galuškinaitė’s In the Fields of Swaying Grass transports the listener into an entirely different space – a world of tall grass swaying in the wind, summer air, distant rain and a century-old oak tree, inviting us to pause, if only for a moment, and breathe together with nature.
History and memory, the cosmos and numerical order, inner human transformations, the unstoppable rhythm of life, an ascending spiral of sound and the tranquillity of nature – the six finalist works reveal different faces of contemporary music today.
This evening at Vilnius Town Hall will bring together the final of an international competition, a live concert and a ceremonial presentation of the awards. The six works have already been selected. Which of them will receive the competition’s highest honours will be revealed on the evening of 10 October.
10 October 2026, 7:00 PM
Vilnius Town Hall
Didžioji St. 31, Vilnius
PERFORMERS
St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor – Modestas Barkauskas
PROGRAMME
Anselm McDonnell (Ireland / Wales) – An Drúcht Ceo
Justina Repečkaitė (Lithuania / France) – Almageste II
Gerson de Sousa Batista (Portugal) – Change of Heart
Kateřina Horká (Czech Republic) – The Fast Tempo of Life
Moritz Laßmann (Germany) – Helix
Gustė Galuškinaitė (Lithuania) – In the Fields of Swaying Grass
The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.