
The GAIDA Festival that takes place in Vilnius since 1991 is the main, the largest and the most prominent festival of contemporary music in Lithuania and in all Baltic countries. This is one of the most important music forums in Central and Eastern Europe. Events of the GAIDA Festival are always associated with new ideas of modern times, highest quality and artistic innovations.
The GAIDA Festival is open to music and innovative art of all different traditions and all geographical sources. The festival reflects and presents a broad sweep of the latest creative processes and newest musical tendencies in Europe and the world. GAIDA introduces Vilnius audiences to the finest achievements of today’s contemporary music – symphonic, instrumental, electronic & digital art; the most famous musicians are invited to the festival; the most impressive works of nowadaysare performed in the festival. GAIDA presents creations from many different genres, from the orchestral and ensembles’ concerts to electronic music, innovative multimedia projects, music theatre, sound installations and club events.
During last 15 years the GAIDA Festival has become really prestigious event not only for Lithuanian music lovers but also for international audiences that numerously attend concerts of the festival. In last years the festival achieved strong increase of all audiences, more than 7500 people attend the festival every year. Almost all venues of the festival are full of listeners, as the festival annually presents a large number of exceptional concerts and events performed by world-wide and internationally recognised artists, with participation of today’s leading composers, the festival is proud to name just a little part of them (including some of their projects):
Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass & The Philip Glass Ensemble, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble, Terry Riley, Laurie Anderson, Thomas Adès, Gavin Bryars Ensemble, Michael Nyman Band, Heiner Goebbels with theatre productions „Eraritjaritjaka“ and „Max Black“, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, Magnus Lindberg, Luca Francesconi, Kaija Saariaho, Georg Friedrich Haas, Peter Eötvös, Jonathan Harvey, Beat Furrer, Salvatore Sciarrino, Unsuk Chin, Jennifer Walshe, Francesco Filidei, Rebecca Saunders, Hans Abrahamsen, Toshio Hosokawa, Enno Poppe, ensembles Bang On A Can All-Stars, Kronos Quartet, London Sinfonietta, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Theatre of Voices & Paul Hillier, The Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, musikFabrik, Quatuor Diotima, Les Percussion de Strasbourg, Slagwerk den Haag, Third Coast Percussion, Mantra Percussion, SŌ Percussion, prominent soloists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christian Tetzlaff, Leila Josefowicz, Nicolas Altstaedt, Leticia Moreno, Fazil Say, Asmik Grigorian, Katia & Marielle Labeque, Kirill Gerstein, Lucas & Arthur Jussen, Lukas Geniušas, Akiko Suwanai, Justina Gringytė, Nicolas Hodges, David Geringas, Tanya Tagaq, Fatima Miranda, Francesco Tristano, Nick Bärtsch, Colin Currie, Markus Stockhausen, Kari Kriikku, Hugo Ticciati, Francesco Dillon, Gavriel Lipkind, Manuel Blanco, well-known electronic music artists Nils Frahm, Jeff Mills, Autechre, Squarepusher, Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, Ben Frost, Robert Henke, Max Cooper, Rival Consoles, Andy Stott, Mouse on Mars, Plaid, Pantha du Prince, Kangding Ray, Franck Vigroux, and many more.
For high achievements in the international new music scene the GAIDA Festival in 2005 was invited to join prestigious European network of contemporary music Réseau Varèse consisted of the most important new music festivals and institutions inParis, Berlin, London, Rome, Warsaw, Oslo, Helsinki, Porto, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid, Huddersfield, Strasbourg and other European cities. In 2008-2014 head of the GAIDA Festival was the Board member and Vice-president of this network.
In 2008 the GAIDA Festival was awarded the title of ISCM World Music Days, meaning an especial appreciation of the international music community all over the world and providing the right to organize a festival on exceptional scale.
In 2019 the GAIDA Festival became EFFE Laureate. EFFE – Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe – is initiated by the European Festivals Association and supported by the European Commission. International Jury chaired by Sir Jonathan Mills (former director of the Edinburgh International Festival) from a list of more than 800 festivals across the whole Europe has selected the best 24 festivals and announced them EFFE Laureates. The GAIDA Festival, the only festival from Baltic countries, was selected and announced among the best 24 European festivals with receiving the EFFE Laureate title.

Events of the GAIDA Festival take place in the main concert halls of Vilnius: National Philharmonic Hall, Congress Concert Hall, National Drama Theatre, National Gallery of Art, Contemporary Art Centre, St. Catherine Church, Arts Printing House, a. o.