Ąžuoliukas is a boys, youth and men’s choir of Vilnius Teachers House founded in 1959 on the initiative of Hermanas Perelšteinas (he led the choir from 1959 to 1979). Today it is one of the best known names in the Lithuanian music scene. This is a unique combination of several choirs – from little boys to men – and a music school.

On the 3rd of September, 1959, 30 boys gathered to the first rehearsal in the Club of Post and Telecommunications Workers invited to the world of music by Hermanas Perelšteinas. While reading memories about Perelšteinas’s life, one is bound to think that our country has been very lucky for this enormously strong and resolute man to be allowed to return to Lithuania from exile. Otherwise, Ąžuoliukas would have been born somewhere else. Wherever Hermanas Perelšteinas was thrust by his fate – from Yakutsk to New York – various choirs were born in those places.

In 1960 the choir moved to the National Teachers House. On the 10th of June 1961 the choir gave the first big concert in Vilnius Philharmonic for the staff and students of the LSSR State Conservatoire.

From 1979 until now Vytautas Miškinis has been the art director and chief conductor of the boys’ and youth choir Ąžuoliukas.

In Ąžuoliukas boys get much more than just the basics of music. Therefore, many members of this ensemble call Ąžuoliukas ‘the school of life’ and their ‘second home’ without hesitation. This is a space where a child matures for an independent life. 

Today Ąžuoliukas consists of eight separate choirs with several hundred children, teenagers and men. Ąžuoliukas went beyond the limits of traditional musical education long ago, thus becoming a forge of personalities, leaving a mark on everybody who had an opportunity to stay longer in this collective.

Ąžuoliukas is a participant of Lithuanian Song Festivals (1994 I and 1998 II Lithuanian World Song Festivals), festivals, meetings of choirs and a constant laureate of competitions. The collective is known far away from the borders of Lithuania.

The choir has performed complex classical and contemporary opuses with symphony and chamber orchestras and soloists under the baton of famous Lithuanian and foreign conductors: G. F. Handel’s oratory Judas Maccabeus and Belshazzar, W. A. Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Missa brevis D-dur and Requiem, M. Durufle, D. Kabalevski and L. Cherubini’s Requiem, F. Poulenc’s Gloria, J. S. Bach’s cantatas No. 21,195,196, G. Mahler’s 2nd, 3rd and 8th Symphonies, H. Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, B. Britten’s The War Requiem, E. Elgar’s ode The Music Makers, A. Honegger’s oratory Jeanne d’Ark au bucher, I. Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, S. Prokofiev’s cantata Alexander Nevsky, H. Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, C. Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, E. Balsys’s oratory Don’t Touch the Blue Globe, etc. Ąžuoliukas has participated in musical events of almost all possible genres. Now composers dedicate their opuses to the choir.

When Lithuania became an independent state, the choir Ąžuoliukas had great opportunities to enlarge the geography of its concerts and tours. It cooperated with famous international music and concert agencies in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, France and many other countries for many years. During the last decade the choir has been a frequent participant and guest of various competitions of choir music and festivals.

Ąžuoliukas travelled abroad for the first time in 1969: to Poland to participate in the IV Wratislawia Cantans festival during which the choir performed the oratory by E. Balsys, Don’t Touch the Blue Globe, together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. In 1970 this opus was performed also during the IX UNESCO conference in Moscow.

Currently Ąžuoliukas tours several countries a year thus expanding the list of visited countries annually. The boys and men’s choir has visited the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Ukraine and The United States of America. 

We list here selected international festivals and competitions in which the choir Ąžuoliukas has participated: March 1966 – laureate of the II Meeting of Baltic Boys Choirs in Tallin, June – laureate of the National Meeting of Boys Choirs in Klaipėda. In 1968 laureate of III Meeting of Baltic Boys Choirs in Vilnius. Song Festival of Estonian Schoolchildren (1972), 2nd of July 1978 Ąžuoliukas men’s choir won the All Union Choir Competition in Tallinn dedicated to the IX World Youth Festival in Havana. Magdeburg International Music Festival (1977), Choir Festival Varna'81 (Bulgaria) – 1st and 2nd prizes (1981), International Children’s Choir Competition in Nantes (France) – Grand Prix (1990), International Competition ‘C. A. Seghizzi’ in Gorizia (Italy) – 3rd prize (1990), International Choir Festival in Mainhausen (Germany) – 1st prize (1993), International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf (Germany) – 1st prize (1993), International Choir Competition in Tolosa (Spain) – 3rd prize (1995).

Ąžuoliukas has made over a hundred archive recordings for the Lithuanian and foreign radio; it has participated in many television programmes, films (Slovenia, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark, France and Greece) and musicals; it has recorded 35 vinyl and 12 compact discs.

Traditional anniversary concerts of Ąžuoliukas with the participation of up to 450 boys and youths are memorable. Another beautiful tradition is forming: international seminars of choir music in Vilnius initiated by Vytautas Miškinis.

Awards: the title of the LSSR Exemplary Choir Ažuoliukas was awarded to the ensemble on its 5th anniversary on the 7th of March 1965. In 1965 the choir was awarded the title of Absolutely the Best LSSR Choir. On the 28th of December 1974 the choir was awarded the title of the LSSR Collective Emeritus on its 15th anniversary. On the 4th of February 1978 Ąžuoliukas was awarded the Respublican Lenin’s Comsomol Youth Prize. On the 8th of April 1979, Ąžuoliukas men’s choir was awarded the title of Absolutely the Best Men’s Choir in Vilnius. In 2004 the Golden Bird was awarded to the boys and youth choir Ąžuoliukas and nominated for the title The Brightest Star of Lithuania (LLKC), 2005 Golden Bird to the men’s choir Ąžuoliukas; nomination for the title The Star of International Radiance (LLKC).

For more about the choir Ąžuoliukas see: www.azuoliukas.lt