Musical Myth “Vilko upė”

“Vilko upė” (“Wolf River”) is a myth of Vilnius’s origins, created in 2023 for the 700th anniversary of the capital, telling an archetypal story of the city’s founding. With the support of Vilnius City Municipality, the project has been steadily developed and grown for three years. Creators: Irena Upė and Gediminas Žilys.

The project included the creation of a 53-minute music and object-theatre programme and four original sutartinės (traditional multipart Lithuanian songs). The works feature poetry by award-winning poet Jurgita Jasponytė. In 2023, the programme was presented as a Vilnius city birthday event at the Lithuanian Composers’ Union’s Kompozitorių namai (Composers’ House). In 2024, a virtual album of the programme (theatre version) was released on international music platforms and presented at Menų spaustuvė together with the Stalo teatras team (Saulė Degutytė and Rimantas Šiekštelė). In 2025, the programme was performed at the spring and autumn equinox festivals in Kernavė, where A. Buinauskas’s light projections on the hillforts complemented the music.

The project is significant for its ethnic dimension: it creates contemporary sutartinės and seeks historically and archaeologically grounded content reflecting the primordial founding of Vilnius. It gives meaning to ancient myths about the city’s origins and highlights historical stages in the city’s development and archetypal elements: the river, the dream, the wolf, the hunt, the Crooked City, the Sharp Gates (the Gates of Dawn), and the deity. The programme unfolds as one continuous action, a conversation between old Lithuanian folk songs and contemporary original music reflecting mythological aspects of Vilnius. Electronics are combined with ancient folklore heritage, all conveyed to the audience’s imagination through object and shadow theatre. The project is distinctive for its newly composed sutartinės and archaic archetypes, brought back to life in our everyday world.

The event will be filmed and photographed. The material will be used in DKC communications.

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The event is part of the 2026 edition of the traditional “Verpstė” festival in Viečiūnai.

Organiser: Druskininkų kultūros centras
Partners: Viečiūnų seniūnija, Viečiūnų laisvalaikio salė, Viečiūnų bendruomenė “Versmė”

The event is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Druskininkai Municipality.