Vytautas Kernagis’ Vilnius

Two rooms on the second floor were rented by V. Kernagis’ parents in this grey two-storey house with a porch. Vytautas Kernagis lived in this house for the first five years of his life.

After moving out of the Kudirkos Street flat, the Kernagis family moved into this building on Lukiškių Square – their flat was on the second floor of the corner building. Vytautas spent his formative years here. He was very happy to have his own personal space in this flat – “…a long, long, sausage-like room with a window at the back”, which he referred to as ‘sasyska’ (a kind of frankfurter sausage).

During the heyday of Kernagis’ cabaret era, Vytautas and Dalia Kernagis and their son Vytukas lived in Flat 65. The revival of cabaret was first conceived and began while Kernagis lived in Kaštonų (Angariečio) Street.

At that time, this was one of the most famous schools in Vilnius – it was blossoming and booming because it had everything. Kernagis saw the school as a meeting place for his gang of likeminded souls – his ‘chebra’ or crew. The beat music group ‘Aisčiai’ did not emerge at the school out of nowhere but as a result of Kernagis and other teenagers starting to learn to play the guitar. Students from all over Vilnius flocked to the evenings of music and dancing where ‘Aisčiai’ played. Vytautas Kernagis was expelled from school for what was considered back then to be behaving like a hooligan and a dissident.

On 25 December 1971, on the occasion of Christmas at the Vilnius Art Institute, Kernagis took part in the rock opera ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ by A. Lloyd Webber, staged by Kęstutis Antanėlis. However, in the words of K. Antanėlis, it was thanks to VYTAUTAS that the music came alive as a performance. In 1973, Vytautas Kernagis met his future wife Dalia Šuopytė here at the Institute.

The second bench to the left of the main entrance is where the ‘chebra’ used to gather every evening. “If you have ever been a child of ‘Brodas’ [derived from ‘Broadway’], the connection is for life” – Kernagis evoked the image of ‘Brodas’ and remembered the names of the ‘chebra’ crew: V. Kęstas Antanėlis, Algis Puipa, Nijolė Oželytė, Balys Žiūraitis, Andrius Žibikas, Algis Sirijos Gira, Audra Poškaitytė, Rimas Steponaitis, Eglė Gylytė, Algis Mikutėnas, Izolda Keidošiūtė, Olegas Zacharenkovas… 

For those attending school at the 23rd, 15th, ‘Salomeika’, ‘Vienolynas’, or ‘Čiurlionkė’ [Salomėjos Neries, Antano Vienolio, M.K.Čiurlionio Art School respectively], it was easy to reach: “It was practically not far from anywhere to come to ‘Brodas’… ”

Now, a bronze bench with a guitar at the side (architect Rimvydas Kazickas, sculptor Danielius Sodeika) has been erected to commemorate this place symbolising the beginning of Kernagis’ career.

’Stones’ – the stone wall marking the edges of Chernyakhovsky (now Kudirkos) Square on the left, in front of the windows of the Central Committee. 

“I am a child of the ‘jeans’ generation, who grew up on Beatles songs. And that generation remains unrestrained until the end…. ‘Brodas’ gave his children a very solid foundation in life, which manifested itself in fantastic creativity, […] a crazy engine that comes from somewhere, which prevents them from getting bogged down gathering moss”.

This is the so-called ‘Planetos’ (now ‘Skalvija’ Cinema) courtyard, surrounded by the houses on Požėlos and Vienuolio streets, where the children of the ‘Brodas chebra’ used to gather, including Romas Juknevičius, Saulius Sverdiolas, Ramune Nakaitė, Vilija Baumilaitė, Taurius Fledžinskas, and others.

The ‘Gastronome Courtyard’. Kernagis studied here at the former 1st Labour Youth Shift Evening School, when he worked at the Youth Theatre.

The Trade Union Palace of Culture [until recently stood] on Tauro Hill. The theatre studio, where Vytautas discovered a fantastic drama group led by Valerija Marcinkevičiūtė-Karalienė. Many young talented people were involved who went on to become famous artists. With the leader, they staged K. Binkis’ ‘Atžalynas’. 

Kernagis’ studies at the Lithuanian Theatre Conservatoire were somewhere “between heaven and earth” and helped him to understand what it meant to be among the more talented actors and that he was not inferior to them. In the summer of 1969, Kernagis enrolled on H. Vancevičius’ course with Vytautas Grigolis, Vytautas Rumšas, Sigitas Račkys, Jonas Braškys, Romanas Savickas, Regina Arbačiauskaitė, and Genutė Ciplinskaitė amongst others… Four years later, after graduating, together with Vytautas Grigolis, Vytautas Kernagis was appointed to the Kaunas Drama Theatre.

This place was the beginning of Kernagis’ independent directorial work. After graduating with honours from the A. Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, Kernagis began his directing career at the Philharmonic in the newly established Department of Music and Stage Performance. He directed and hosted the Philharmonic’s events on stage – ‘Spring Rhythms’, ‘Autumn Parade’, ‘Palanga Festivals’… 

“Seven years later, I can confirm that the tree I planted is beginning to bear fruit”, Vytautas reflected in the summer of 1982.

Zinutė Nutautaitė, the eternal soul of the recording studio, helped Kernagis with many of his recording projects. Every year, one record a year, all his programmes were recorded in the studio. The last album – ‘Povo Link’ – was recorded in 1989, while in 1994, the first vinyl record ‘Akustinis’ was also released here.

This was the main venue for staged music and performance events in Vilnius, where Kernagis directed and hosted many concerts.

These are the premises of the ‘Dainos Teatras’ (Song Theatre) rehearsal and storage rooms. Here many ideas were born and the programmes for the ‘Dainos Teatras’ concerts were prepared.

In 1969-1970, V. Kernagis, O. Zacharenkovas, and A. Ramonas played here at music and dance events with the group ‘Rupūs miltai’. In around 1977, a concert of Kernagis’ sung poetry took place in this hall.

In 1973-1974, while serving in the Soviet army, Kernagis was a member of a military dance and song ensemble together with his friend S. Račkys. Soldiers used to escape to the city through a small hole in the wall, secretly returning through it without the knowledge of their superiors.

The Theatre Society, which was active here, had a small hall on the second floor; this was the site of many original concerts by Kernagis featuring his own lyrics and music that took place between 1977-1978.

In around 1977, this was the venue for concerts of sung poetry by Kernagis and other singers.