Kaunas 2022: First Act. The Confusion

At 19:30 (7:30pm) on 22 January, all are invited to an historic event: the Opening Ceremony of the Kaunas European Capital of Culture programme! The ceremony will be held near the Žalgiris Arena. The show programme will be kept a secret until the last minute before the opening.

All we can tell you right now is that the show is being created by hundreds of performers from Kaunas, Lithuania, and abroad. A synthesis of contemporary music, gigantic video projections, and slam poetry will tell the story of a city as a living, always renewing miracle. The show calls everyone to the city’s creative uprising. Kaunas will invite everyone watching the live broadcast of the opening ceremony throughout the European Union and around the world, to harness culture to create a new, post-pandemic future.

Opening Night will be the main, but not the only event. Introductory events will already begin on 19 January at the edges of the Kaunas District, each evening drawing ever closer to the centre of Kaunas, bringing together local communities, one after another, for the great Opening Night event.

This entire opening cultural fuss will awaken the Mythical Beast of Kaunas. And from that moment on, the excitement will begin…