On 6 July 2025, Lithuanians around the world will once again unite in song for the 16th edition of “National Anthem Around the World”, singing “Tautiška giesmė” in unison at 21:00 local time. This year, the unique global tradition is dedicated to two of Lithuania’s most significant cultural figures: Vincas Kudirka, the author of the national anthem, and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, whose 150th birth anniversary is being commemorated.
Celebrating Čiurlionis with a Global Voice
Under the theme “Let us unite horizons with our voices”, the organisers are calling on 150 Lithuanian communities worldwide to join in this symbolic act of unity and celebration. The aim is to honour Čiurlionis’s vision – one that blended art, nationhood, and the universe into a singular cultural expression.
“Čiurlionis brought together music, colour, the homeland and the cosmos in his art. His progressive early-20th-century views on art, politics, and society resonate deeply with today’s values. He saw Lithuania not simply as a geographic location, but as a culturally rich idea that unites kindred spirits everywhere. That’s the essence we remind ourselves of each year through ‘National Anthem Around the World’ – wherever we are, we are all Lithuania,”
– Raimundas Daubaras, project initiator
A Historic Musical Link
While widely known as Lithuania’s anthem, “Tautiška giesmė” also has a lesser-known connection to Čiurlionis. Although the anthem was written by Kudirka in the late 19th century during a time of national awakening, Čiurlionis created a choral arrangement in 1908, teaching it to his siblings. His version brought gentler, more melodic Romantic harmonies to the piece, adding depth and emotion that resonated with the national spirit.
This arrangement became an artistic emblem of the Lithuanian national revival, merging European Romanticism with local patriotism, and offering choirs a powerful way to express unity through music.
A Grand Concert in Druskininkai
This year, Čiurlionis’s choral version of the anthem will be performed in Druskininkai, Lithuania’s 2025 Cultural Capital and the town where Čiurlionis once lived and worked. A festive open-air concert will take place on 6 July at 20:00 at the Lake Druskonis Amphitheatre, leading up to the global singing of the anthem at 21:00.
The First Notes Begin in Japan
As tradition dictates, Lithuanians in Japan will be the first to sing the anthem, as the sun rises there earliest. This year’s first performance will take place in Osaka, at the EXPO, where 6 July has been officially designated as Lithuania’s Statehood Day. Accompanied by Petras Geniušas and Petras Vyšniauskas, the anthem will echo out from Japan, initiating a wave of unity that will pass across the globe.
From a Civic Idea to a Global Tradition
“National Anthem Around the World” began in 2009, inspired by the crew of the yacht Ambersail, who invited Lithuanians everywhere to sing the anthem simultaneously in celebration of Lithuania’s millennium. It has since become a powerful symbol that Lithuania lives wherever its people do – and that the anthem, sung together, is the strongest connection between them, from Kaunas to London to Sydney.
“In today’s fast-moving, noisy world, we invite everyone to pause for a moment on the evening of 6 July and feel the anthem as an expression of inner harmony – a small miracle of unity,”
– Raimundas Daubaras