Accordion virtuoso and Music Academy Accordion Department lecturer Radu Ratoi concert schedule in October

VMU Music Academy has Invited World Accordion Star Radu Ratoi to Join, Contract Signed, International Concert Tours Planned on Prestigious Global Stages

For a year and a half now, the VMU Music Academy’s Accordion Department has been collaborating with one of the world’s best accordionists – Radu Ratoi.

Head of the VMU Music Academy’s Accordion Department, Assoc. Prof. Povilas Velikis:
“I am delighted to announce that Radu has officially started working at the VMU Music Academy. Radu has won all the major international accordion competitions and is currently one of the most actively performing accordionists in the world. His knowledge and experience are very valuable for our students and for the entire Lithuanian accordion school.”

Radu Ratoi is also pleased to have joined the VMU Music Academy community:

“Today I officially signed a contract as a guest lecturer at the Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy – this is an honor that fills me with gratitude and excitement. I sincerely thank Povilas Velikis and the Dean of the Music Academy, Saulius Gerulis, for their trust and warm welcome. Kaunas is such a vibrant and inspiring city – I look forward to sharing ideas, inspiring young musicians, and contributing to the further growth of the accordion school here in the Baltic region.”

On October 17th at 6 PM, Radu Ratoi will perform at the Kaunas State Philharmonic together with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra.

PIANO MUSIC CONCERT, VARDAN GYODAKYAN (ARMENIA), OCTOBER 12, 3P.M. VMU MUSIC ACADEMY CONCERT HALL

ARTHUR GRIGORYAN (ARMENIA) PIANO SOLO RECITAL, OCTOBER 9, 5P.M. VMU MUSIC ACADEMY CONCERT HALL

Piano Music Concert “CONCERTI CONCERT”, October 10, 18 PM, at VMU Music Academy Concert Hall

Concert and conversation with pianist Guoda Gedvilaitė, October 17th at VMU Music Academy Concert Hall

The Erasmus+ study program in the EU/EEA competition for the spring semester of the 2025-2026 academic year has been opened

Please find attached the competition announcement in English, with lists of partner universities provided in the announcements (MA – Music academy).

Partner Institutions

The competition deadline is September 30, 2025.

The results will be announced to students on October 9, 2025.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:

Dominykas Šimonis

Coordinator for International Relations

Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy

dominykas.simonis@vdu.lt  I +37061598905

Assoc. prof. Kostas Smoriginas will perform at PROMS-the World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival at Royal Albert Hall, London

The 2025 BBC Proms line-up has been revealed, showcasing a staggering 19 Intermusica artists making exciting debuts and celebrated returns to the festival. This year also shines a spotlight on conductor Elim Chan, who directs the flagship Last Night of the Proms for the first time.

About This Event

A jazz band and a symphony orchestra meet in the zany groovings of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Revue Music for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band – part of a concert that brings these two sound- worlds together. Jazz is represented by the syncopated brilliance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, performed by Proms favourite and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Benjamin Grosvenor. Shostakovich supplies the symphony – the snarling, sometimes shockingly tender ‘Babi Yar’, bearing witness to the horrors of a Nazi massacre of Jews in Soviet Ukraine.

Kostas Smoriginas

Friday 15 August

Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas returns to this year’s BBC Proms in a performance of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony “Babi Yar”, on 15 August. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales will be conducted by Ryan Bancroft.

More information:

Proms 2025 Benjamin Grosvenor Plays Ravel – BBC Proms – BBC

Intermusica – News – News

Assoc. prof. Kostas Smoriginas concerts’ activity during 2024/26 season

  • Kostas Smoriginas is one of the most sought after bass-baritones of today. He made his debut at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin as Escamillo Carmen and has since performed the role with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle (recorded for EMI Classics), the Salzburg Easter Festival, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Santa Fe Music Festival, Dresden Semperoper, and with Beijing’s National Centre for Performing Arts.

  • During the 2024/25 season, Smoriginas sings Jochanaan Salome with the houses of Hannover, Antwerp and Malmö, and in his return to the Zurich Opera House, performs Verdi Requiem with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and makes his Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Heerrufer des Königs Lohengrin, alongside René Pape and Piotr Beczała.Last season, Smoriginas returned to the Royal Opera House for two new productions, as Donner in Barrie Kosky’s Das Rheingold and as Escamillo in Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen, sang Escamillo in Hamburg, and performed Rachmaninov Aleko and Francesca da Rimini with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester. He recently also performed Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde for the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and sang Orest in a concert performance of Elektra with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.Previous engagements include: Elektra in concert at the Bergen International Festival conducted by Edward Gardner; title role Eugene Onegin for the Opéra de Lausanne; Escamillo for the Norwegian Opera and Cologne Opera; Escamillo and Monterone Rigoletto for the Bregenz Festival; an Eastern European tour with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra under Karel Mark Chichon; Escamillo in Barrie Kosky’s production of Carmen, Heerrufer in David Alden’s new Lohengrin, and Tchelakov in Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House; Scarpia Tosca at Opéra de Rouen; Jochanaan in Cologne and for the Hannover State Opera; Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde in Cologne and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons) at Carnegie Hall; the title role Don Giovanni at Opéra de Lausanne; Figaro Le nozze di Figaro in Dresden; Escamillo, Tomsky Pique Dame, Eugene Onegin and Figaro for Lithuanian National Opera; Count Le nozze di Figaro in Malmo; and the title roles of Aleko and The Demon at La Monnaie. He made his US opera debut in 2010 as Figaro Le nozze di Figaro at Washington National Opera, and has also performed with the San Francisco Opera, Teatro Municipal Santiago, Opera de Bordeaux, New Israeli Opera, Vilnius City Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival and Teatro alla Scala Milan.In high demand on the concert platform, engagements have included Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Edward Gardner) and London Symphony Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), Stravinsky Les Noces and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, Dvorak Te Deum with the Orchestre de Paris, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Rachmaninov The Bells with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons) and Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He recorded the role of Pietro Simon Boccanegra alongside Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ildar Abdrazakov and Barbara Frittoli.Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy before representing his country at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He graduated from the Royal College of Music and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House. Also Smoriginas studied at Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy.

Performances held in 2025/2026 season

  • 27 July 2025, 17:00
    Bayerische Staatsoper
    Munich, Germany
    Wagner: Lohengrin (Heerrufer des Königs)
    Sebastian Weigle (conductor)
    Kornél Mundruczó (director)

    30 July 2025, 18:00
    Bayerische Staatsoper
    Munich, Germany
    Wagner: Lohengrin (Heerrufer des Königs)
    Sebastian Weigle (conductor)
    Kornél Mundruczó (director)

    15 August 2025, 19:30
    BBC National Orchestra of Wales
    Royal Albert Hall
    London, United Kingdom
    Shostakovich: Symphony No.13 in B-flat minor, Op.113 ‘Babi Yar’
    Ryan Bancroft (conductor)

    26 September 2025, 20:15
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    De Doelen
    Rotterdam, Netherlands
    Bruckner: Te Deum
    Lahav Shani (conductor)

    28 September 2025, 14:15
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    De Doelen
    Rotterdam, Netherlands
    Bruckner: Te Deum
    Lahav Shani (conductor)

    06 December 2025, 19:30
    Wiener Musikverein
    Vienna, Austria
    Bruckner: Te Deum
    Lahav Shani (conductor)

    07 February 2026, 19:30
    London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Royal Festival Hall
    London, United Kingdom
    Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, Op.53
    Edward Gardner (conductor)

We request the honour of your presence at the diploma award ceremony of the Music Academy on Thursday, 19 June, at 12 p.m. at VMU Music Academy