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Culture of Lithuania


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performed only posthumously.

Vytautas Miškinis (born 1954) is a professor, composer and choir director of the famous Lithuanian boys' choir Ąžuoliukas. He is very popular in Lithuania and abroad. He has written over 400 secular and about 150 religious works.

In Lithuania choral music is very important. Vilnius is the only city with three choirs laureates (Brevis, Jauna Muzika and Chamber Choir of the Conservatoire) at the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. There is a long-standing tradition of the Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival (Dainų Šventė). The first once took place in Kaunas in 1924. Since 1990, the festival has been organised every four years and summons roughly 30,000 singers and folk dancers of various professional levels and age groups from across the country. In 2008, Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival together with its Latvian and Estonian versions was inscribed as UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Sports

•    Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the country. The Lithuania national basketball team has had significant success in international basketball events. Having won a total of 9 medals in the EuroBasket, the World Championships and the Olympic Games, it is ranked 5th worldwide in FIBA Rankings.

•    Lithuania has produced a number of NBA players: Arvydas Sabonis, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Darius Songaila, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Linas Kleiza and others. The current 19-year-old Lithuanian star Jonas Valančiūnas was picked 5th by Toronto Raptors in the 2011 NBA Draft.

•    Arvydas Sabonis was the first Lithuanian to be inducted into the prestigious Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August, 2011.

•    In 2011, Lithuania hosted the men's European Basketball Championship EuroBasket 2011. The final took place in the newly built Žalgiris
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