European Capitals of Culture 2009: Opening events in Vilnius and Linz.

About the opening event of Vilnius 2009:  On the night of 31 December opening events of “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009” lured around 200,000 spectators to the centre of Lithuanian capital.

On the multi-level stage erected behind the glass facade of the palace, nearly 150 performers offered citizens and guests musical @Hoffman_Spragtukas.  This is the musical interpretation of fairy-tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and of classical ballet The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. At midnight, the sky over Cathedral Square in the heart of Vilnius was illuminated with the show of light and music of the world’s most famous architect of light Gert Hof.  This was an eight-part 20-minute-long impressive mystery of lights created for the special occasion of the opening of the programme “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009”. This show got coverage on Europe’s largest and world TV channels. About the opening event of Linz 2009:  The President of Austria H. Fischer opened the Year of Linz 2009. 130 000 people enjoyed the show of fireworks above the Danube and musical creations at midnight on the main place of Linz. It was broadcasted on the Austrian TV and reached 270 000 additional people.  Actually, Linz celebrated the beginning of Capital of Culture Year over three days, when numerous cultural events took place like inaugurations and openings of important exhibitions and previews of the programme of Linz 2009.