The festival’s home will not be a concert hall, but the courtyard of the home restaurant “Veranda” surrounded by greenery. For three days, jazz by Lithuanian and foreign performers will sound here, young musicians will perform, there will be musical Sunday breakfasts outdoors, and a separate creative program will be dedicated to children and families.
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All festival events will be free of charge.
From a 21-year-old tradition
The location for the festival was not chosen by chance. Live jazz has been playing at “Veranda” for 21 years – always free, without a concert ticket and without a formal boundary between musicians and listeners.
Over more than two decades, performers have changed, a new generation of musicians has grown, and the audience has changed as well. From this tradition came the idea to expand jazz into a three-day event, dedicated not only to connoisseurs of this music genre.
“We wanted not just another concert, but a few days of live meetings. So that a person could come specifically to listen to a favorite performer, but just as well – drop by for dinner, bring children, meet neighbors or friends, and perhaps unexpectedly discover jazz,” say the festival organizers.
The Žvėrynas environment itself is also favorable for this. Just a few minutes from the center of Vilnius, the old suburb character still remains here – wooden houses, green streets, old trees, and a somewhat slower city pace.
The festival space also has its own history – it dates back to 1901. So contemporary music will sound in a place where the old Žvėrynas is still part of everyday life.
Jazz from four countries in one Vilnius courtyard
The festival’s musical program consciously combines different jazz generations and traditions.
On Friday, the festival will start with the young Lithuanian musicians’ group “Jazz In Case,” and in the evening one of the brightest international projects of the program – “Silent Borders Jazz Quartet” – will perform on stage.
The quartet brings together four musicians from four countries: Lithuanian saxophonist and composer Kęstutis Vaiginis, guitarist Shachar Elnatan from Israel, Cuban double bassist Anial Someillan, and Hungarian drummer Peter Somos.
Their music blends European jazz lyricism, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Middle Eastern melodic motifs, and contemporary improvisation. The name “Silent Borders” itself speaks about what happens naturally in jazz – different cultural experiences meet and lose geographical boundaries in music.
On Saturday, the baton will be passed to the young Lithuanian jazz generation. The “Northbound Quartet” repertoire combines jazz tradition with contemporary fusion, original compositions, and improvisation.
The highlight of the evening will be a completely different jazz world.
Playing since 2011, “Home Jazz Band” calls themselves traditional jazz hooligans. Their music takes the listener back to early 20th-century New Orleans and 1940s New York – to ragtime, vaudeville, street marches, and early jazz.
However, historical accuracy here should not be confused with museum calm. “Home Jazz Band” jazz can be gentle and elegant, and a moment later – energetic and almost punk rock.
Sunday without rushing
After two concert evenings, the festival pace will slow down on Sunday.
At noon, an acoustic piano will sound in the green meadow. Here, the music will be less of a concert and more of a Sunday background for conversations, late breakfasts, and the last hours of the summer weekend.
Alongside, there will be an art education session “Drawing Jazz.” Artist and educator Sigita Emilė Bausienė will invite children and adults to try to transfer the heard music onto paper – expressing its rhythm, mood, and emotion with lines, watercolor, and colors.
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This is one of the festival’s ideas – not to limit jazz to just the stage and the listener’s chair.
The first acquaintance with music can begin in childhood
A separate part of the festival is dedicated to families and the youngest listeners.
On Saturday at noon, the Emotional Intelligence and Music Space “EIME” operating in Žvėrynas will present an interactive musical performance “The Story of the Closet.”
Children will not be asked to just quietly watch the performance. They will be able to engage in the story, make music together with the actresses, and get acquainted with music in a playful way.
According to the organizers’ idea, the festival should be a place both for those who know jazz well and for those for whom this will be the first live encounter with this music world.
Therefore, alongside international professionals, young Lithuanian musicians consciously appear in the program, and alongside evening concerts – a children’s performance, art, and Sunday piano in the meadow.
Not in a concert hall, but in a living city
In recent years, culture in Vilnius has increasingly left traditional halls and moved to where everyday city life happens – courtyards, parks, streets, and unexpected spaces.
“Jazzing Žvėrynas” chooses exactly this format.
Here, it will not be necessary to know jazz history or the names of performers. You can come for a specific concert, or you can just drop by Žvėrynas and let the music become part of the evening.
Perhaps this is one of the most attractive qualities of jazz – it is born not from a perfect script, but from people’s ability to listen to each other, react, and improvise.
Žvėrynas itself lives somewhat similarly – old, green, somewhat bohemian, and still able to be quite different from the city center just a few streets away.
If the first “Jazzing Žvėrynas” takes root, the organizers hope to make it an annual late summer tradition.
And its first story will be written this August – three days, in one green Vilnius courtyard.
Festival information
“Jazzing Žvėrynas” will take place on August 21–23 in the courtyard of the home restaurant “Veranda,” Žvėrynas, Vilnius.
All festival concerts, musical events, and educational activities are free.
The number of places in the festival space is limited, so it is recommended to reserve tables in advance. Special conditions apply for reservations on festival days.
The detailed festival program, reservation procedures, and additional conditions are published on the “Veranda” website veranda.lt
The festival is organized by – VšĮ “Stirna pievoje”
Festival partner – home restaurant “Veranda”
The project is partially funded by Vilnius city municipality
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