International VILNIUS MAMA JAZZ festival has been presented since 2002. The festival stands out for the relevance of its programme and focus on contemporary developments in jazz. The festival, which is held on the main stage at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, with many cultural activities in the theatre lobby, attracts over 100 performers each year.
| Over the fifteen years of the festival, musicians such as |
Chick Corea |
Dee Dee Bridgewater and many other have taken part. |
Vilnius Mama Jazz takes place at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre and live music club Tamsta. The theatre hosts concerts, a discussion platform – Vilnius Mama Jazz Margins, exhibitions, stands from bookshops and publishing companies, reading rooms, and improvisation sessions where masters of the genre and young performers come together seeking new forms of expression.
One of the main innovations of the festival is the discussion platform Vilnius Mama Jazz Margins. It offers an artistic and cultural dialogue between those who work in the creative sphere, the academic community and the representatives of the jazz world. The aim of this project is to capture current trends in jazz music and jazz identification within the context of other cultural phenomena, and to understand the authenticity and relevance of Lithuanian jazz today.
In addition to prominent figures in the jazz scene, Vilnius Mama Jazz presents a comprehensive panorama of jazz in Lithuania. Lithuanian performers have an opportunity to present their latest projects or stage original artistic programmes specially created for the festival. For the second year in a row, the festival is organising the Showcase Stage programme, which is attended by foreign experts, critics, journalists, producers, publishers and organisers, who are directly introduced to Lithuanian jazz scene. This serves to publicise Lithuanian jazz abroad.