The Kaunas State Choir came into being in October 1969. Led by Professor Petras Bingelis, a winner of the Lithuanian National Prize, the choir went forward step by step, actively and determinedly, from small pieces, folk songs, and compositions by Lithuanian composers and occasional ones to the first performance of Mozart's Requiem in 1971. Later the choir compiled a repertoire of large-scale classical compositions and created its own image making full use of its potential.

The first photo of the choir (1970)

The Kaunas State Choir was first acknowledged internationally in 1982, after performing Mikis Theodorakis' Spring Symphony in Berlin and Paris. After Lithuania regained its independence and the Iron Curtain fell, the choir's concert life became even more active and eventful, especially when its collaboration with the legendary violinist and conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin began. The year 1992, when the New and Old Ways to India Festival, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, took place, was an important year for the choir. Many European newspapers called the Kaunas State Choir the greatest musical discovery of the year. The theatrical performances of Handel's Messiah, with Lord Yehudi Menuhin on the conductor's podium, have toured France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Egypt, Russia, and other countries. The concert version of the oratorio has been performed also in Argentina and Chile and the Kaunas State Choir soon found itself among the most outstanding choirs of Europe.

The Kaunas State Choir with Lord Yehudi Menuhin at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1995)

In the first years of independence, the collaboration with the renowned German pianist, conductor and active organiser began. He first conducted the choir in the summer of 1992 in Vilnius. Later they appeared together at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, and at the New Year Festival in Maspalomas (the Canary Islands). One of the most significant performances of the choir was that with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Justus Frantz at the Berlin Stadium, where it was applauded by an audience of 75,000. In 1996, during a concert tour in East European post-socialist countries, Mahler's Second Symphony was performed in Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest Bratislava, Prague, and elsewhere.

A rehearsal of Brahms' German Requiem at St Mary Magdalene's Cathedral in Wroclaw, Poland (1993)

At the turn of the century, the collaboration between the Kaunas State Choir and the celebrated Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki began. Under the baton of the author, the choir performed Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem in St Petersburg in 2001, and, in the summer of 2003, Te Deum at the Colmar Festival (France) and St. Luke Passion at the Festival of European Church Music in Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany).

The Kaunas State Choir has established a creative friendship with the famous cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. Their collaboration began in 1998 in Cologne, Germany, with the performance of Sofia Gubaidulina's Sonnengesang (Sun Songs) for percussion, choir and cello. After that, the choir was invited to perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the French resort town of Evian. Together with the celebrated musician, they appeared also in Gstaadt (Switzerland), where alongside Beethoven's Ninth Symphony they sang Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. On 8 January 2001, the choir gave a concert at the Théâtre des Champs d'Elisèes in Paris.

With Mstislav Rostropovich, after the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Théâtre des Champs d'Elisèes in Paris (2001)

On 12 January 2003, at the UNESCO Gala in the Gendarmenmarkt Concert Hall in Berlin, the Kaunas State Choir was awarded a special diploma for the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which has been included in the Memory of the World Register.

In February 2003, the choir appeared in Rome, at the opening ceremony of one of the world's largest concert venues, Auditorium Parco della Musica. The opening concerts in the Sinopoli Hall featured the Kaunas State Choir performing, together with the Academia di Santa Cecilia Symphony Orchestra and other guest performers, Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony in E flat major under the baton of the Korean conductor Myung-Whung Chung.

The Kaunas State Choir has participated in many international music festivals, including the Bordeaux Spring and Mediterranean Sea festivals, festivals in Reims and Strasbourg (France), the New and Old Ways to India (Spain), the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and the Festival of the Countries of Middle Europe (Germany), festivals in Turku (Finland), Bergen (Norway), and Maspalomas (the Canary Islands). It has collaborated with many famous orchestras, from Paris, Bordeaux, Poland, Moscow, St Petersburg, the Colon Theatre Orchestra, and many others. It has performed under the direction of many outstanding conductors, including Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Justus Frantz, Ivo Raichev, Dmitri Kitayenko, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Bashmet, Juozas Domarkas, Saulius Sondeckis, Jonas Aleksa, and Gintaras Rinkevičius.

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