Klaipėda State Musical Theatre: it will sound better than expected!

Klaipėda State Musical Theatre. Photo by Leon Garbačauskas.

The Klaipėda State Musical Theater (KVMT) building opens its doors to the public, boasting one of the best acoustics in the country, the romantically named “Jūros” and “Marių” halls, the most modern technologies and comfort for everyone who visits here. The mark of quality created by the theater is the eternal breathing of art, which unites the face of the city of Klaipėda and the seaside landscape shaped by historical events. Musical theater activity is like a wave, an incessant sense of eternity, creativity and sound!

Speakers of the press conference held on the eve of the opening of the palace: Laima Vilimienė, director of the Klaipėda State Musical Theater, Naglis Stancikas, deputy director of the theater, Marius Mateika, interior architect, founder of MAMA architects, Mantas Šalčius, project director of Infes UAB, were excited and worried. The construction of the building, which took place for more than five years, had become an important part of their daily life and aspiration – for a long time.

An important moment

According to Laima Vilimienė, head of the Klaipėda State Musical Theatre, the moment of completion of the theater’s construction is one of the most important in her life. “Today is one of those moments that takes away my promise. I am very happy. I feel like the long road we all had to walk is over. It has been my honor, trial, or fate to jump onto this highway for the past five and a half years. Having started her work at KVMT in 2018. in mid-August I had to move the theater out of the old building. The major part of the theater was demolished, only the historical tower and the administrative part remained, and soon we dug the capsule together with the heads of the contractors – construction began,” said L. Vilimienė.

The construction of the musical theater lasted 5 years and 7 months. During that time, many important things happened in the world that complicated the theater reconstruction process: the pandemic that paralyzed logistics and work, the war greatly increased the price of materials and work costs, the construction was affected by the economic crisis, inflation, but everything was overcome.

Naglis Stancikas, deputy manager of the musical theater, even compared the end of the theater construction to the one experienced when a person gets married. It was joked that there were many reasons to delay or even not finish this project. “We experienced many trials, but we believed in this project very much, we felt the same desire and support from the contractor, the Ministry of Culture, and the Government, which enabled us to finish everything on time and properly. We searched and found solutions to make the theater even better than planned. After all, the times take their toll, technology changes rapidly. It’s easy to follow a simple path and not worry about it, but we changed solutions, proved the need to improve, strengthen ventilation, air conditioning in the hall. Working with an open heart and burning with great desire gave a good result”, emphasized N. Stancikas.

Led by optimism and love

Mantas Šalčius, the project director of UAB “Infes”, who returned from emigration with his family, always looked at this project not only with devotion, but also with infinite optimism. The KVMT building, i.e. its underground cellars for rehearsal halls and scenery storage, is located as much as 12 meters below sea level. The builders had to turn their heads, how to protect the walls of the building from the river flowing almost next to it, especially how to strengthen the foundations of the old part.

Interior architect Marius Mateika, founder of MAMA architects emphasized that the interior of KVMT was born out of endless love. “When creating the interior of the Klaipėda Musical Theater, we aimed for people who visited here to understand the uniqueness of this space, to feel that they have come to a celebration of the soul intended for them. Together, we were looking for coziness: so that this space would not frighten with its uniqueness, but warm and intrigue. We combined the history of the theater with today’s needs, emphasizing in the interior that this is the Klaipėda City Theater. For this, the interior uses the motif of clay (characteristic of the city’s architecture) and sand washed by sea waves. In addition, the audience visiting here will understand what the term “theatre starts from the dressing room” means, said M. Mateika.

Impressive numbers

The new Klaipėda State Musical Theater building is full of jaw-dropping numbers: 300 tons of metal structures were used here. The builders handed over 1,500 different door keys to the theater administration. The length of the electric cables and various wires that are routed through the entire theater alone is 150 km. There was one elevator in the old theater building, but now there will be as many as four. About 1.2 km of stair railings have been built. After the demolition of the former culture house, which was completely unsuitable for the activities of the Musical Theater, the area of the building doubled and reached 9,000 square meters.

You will not find so many clay plaster walls in any public institution, not only in the country, in Europe, but also in the world. Drawing inspiration from the Lithuanian seaside, UAB Barzdoti vabalai hand-decorated the landscape theater.

Specialists from Germany have already performed acoustic tests of the KVMT hall: the empty space achieved a better rate than planned. It has no analogues in the country.

Designer Agnė Kuzmickaitė created clothes for the staff of the spectator service.

According to Audronė Žigaitytė, the former director of the theater who participated in the press conference, the theater hall used to accommodate 500 spectators. Now about 700 guests will enjoy the performances in the large hall “Jūra”, and about 160 in the “Marių” hall. The number of spectators will depend on the type of performance that will be shown. Hall chairs can move smoothly or even completely hide in the floor.

Starting next week, the audience will be treated to repertory performances in the new palace: each performance will be almost like a premiere, because the decorations will have to be adapted in the new hall, the performers will have to get dressed during the rehearsals, the lights will be adjusted, etc. Everyone is warmly invited to come and see the performances in the new space!