Gospel: Oh Happy Day!

Concert programme on 22 November 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

OH HAPPY DAY!

A two-part programme of original and arranged gospel songs and hymns.

This concert is dedicated to the anniversary of the theatre’s chief chorus master, Rasa Vaitkevičiūtė.

Music director and conductor: RASA VAITKEVIČIŪTĖ, Chief Chorus Master of the theatre
Kaunas State Musical Theatre Choir
Kaunas State Musical Theatre instrumental ensemble (led by JONAS JANULEVIČIUS, Chief Conductor of the theatre)
Concert host: Martynas Stankevičius

The Kaunas State Musical Theatre Choir will present the beauty of spiritually uplifting gospel music. Gospel will ring out in all its power, from heavenly traditional hymns to contemporary works pulsing with soul and rock rhythms. They will be sung by choir artists who take part in various TV music projects and concert programmes, or create their own concert programmes.

We will hear the hits “GOODNES OF GOD”, “SHOUT TO THE LORD”, “HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW”, “DON’T CRY”, “THE COLOR PURPLE”, “NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I’VE SEEN”, “NOT FORGOTTEN” and others.

Rasa Vaitkevičiūtė, Chief Chorus Master of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre, selected the popular and less frequently performed hymns and songs for the “OH HAPPY DAY!” programme, prepared them with an ensemble of choir singers and the full choir, and will conduct the concerts. The singers will be accompanied by an ensemble of orchestra musicians led by the theatre’s Chief Conductor, Jonas Janulevičius. Jonas Janulevičius, Mantas Jančiauskas and Ernestas Valionis arranged well-known works especially for this concert programme and adapted them for a small ensemble of orchestra musicians.

The event host, Martynas Stankevičius, will highlight key moments in the history of gospel music, introduce the hymns and songs being performed, and join the performers himself.

Choir director Rasa said of the programme: “When putting together the concert programme, I thought about the choir artists. I chose works suited to them, in which they could best express themselves and show their strengths. I wanted the audience to hear how brilliantly the choir artists perform solo parts, and we have quite a few young people in the choir who sing solos. The theatre choir is a unique organism. One day they sing operas by Verdi, Puccini and Mozart; the next, operettas by Lehár and Strauss; and another day, musicals by Elton John, Frank Wildhorn and Sylvester Levay. And they do it all very professionally. I admit that I love my ensemble very much for their professionalism and love of the musical stage. Gospel music moves performers, because it brings together joy and pain, light and longing, gratitude, suffering and salvation. So it is no wonder that, during rehearsals, the artists’ eyes would shine with tears of emotion—it is a joy to rehearse while praising the Almighty. ‘Gospel’ means ‘good news’; every piece here bears witness: ‘I believe, I have hope, I live.’ This is music that invites you to get up from your seat, clap, sing along and feel it with your whole body. When listening to gospel, you feel it more than you hear it. That is why it touches even those who have nothing to do with religion…”