by Sigita Balzekas | Jan 17, 2023
This Friday, January 12, 2023, at 7 PM the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago, presents:
“The Road to Global Conquest: Stalinist Expansionism and the Baltic Region, 1917-1953”
A lecture by Dr. Alexander Gogun from the Free University of Berlin
Dr. Gogun is the author of Stalin’s Commandos: Ukrainian Partisan Forces on the Eastern Front (2016), which documents Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s scorched earth tactics in Ukraine and the looting, boozing, rapes, and violence of Stalin’s guerrilla forces. As Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine bares witness, aspects of Putin’s conduct of war chillingly mirror Stalin’s. This Friday, January 13, 7 PM at the Balzekas Museum, Dr. Alexander Gogun will shed light on Stalin’s expansionism, its implications for the Baltic region, and what lessons these historical events have for today.
About Dr. Alexander Gogun
Dr. Alexander Gogun is currently pursuing research at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute at the Free University of Berlin. He has taught at Potsdam University and held a fellowship at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, the Daymel Shklar Fellowship at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, a postdoctoral fellowship at the International Institute for the Holocaust Studies Yad Vashem, the Diane and Howard Wohl Fellowship at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as well a research fellowship at the Haddasah-Brandeis Institute – Brandeis Genesis Institute. He is the author of several monographs and editor of the document collections on Ukrainian nationalism, Soviet partisans, Nazi propaganda, and the foreign policy of the Soviet Union.
His film Stalin’s Apocalypse: Third
Address: Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, IL 60629.
Admission: FREE OF CHARGE Donations at the door are always welcome.
Reservations requested by telephone: 773-582-6500
Or by email here: [email protected].
Refreshments, including Lithuanian beer and Kugelis, will be served
This program is sponsored in part by the Members and Donors of the Balzekas Museum and a CityArts grant through the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Museum gratefully acknowledges these contributors for their support.
by admin | Nov 2, 2022
Join us at the Balzekas Museum for a special three-evening Master Class on making traditional Lithuanian straw ornaments. Classes will be conducted by artist/educator Laura Lapinskas. Traditionally, ornaments were made from natural straw, but resourceful city-dwellers began to use more easily available paper and plastic straws for this purpose.
Participants will also have an apportunity to view examples of paper, plastic, and natural straw ornaments from the Museum’s exhibits and collections, and to learn about the origin and significance of ornaments and sodai, their pagan predecessors. The history of decorating Lithuanian Christmas trees in the United States will also be highlighted.
by admin | Nov 2, 2022
Join us at the Balzekas Museum for a special three-evening Master Class on making traditional Lithuanian straw ornaments. Classes will be conducted by artist/educator Laura Lapinskas. Traditionally, ornaments were made from natural straw, but resourceful city-dwellers began to use more easily available paper and plastic straws for this purpose.
Participants will also have an apportunity to view examples of paper, plastic, and natural straw ornaments from the Museum’s exhibits and collections, and to learn about the origin and significance of ornaments and sodai, their pagan predecessors. The history of decorating Lithuanian Christmas trees in the United States will also be highlighted.
by afoss | Jul 19, 2022
Balzekas Museum welcomes the Kalnas Ensemble string quartet featuring original compositions inspired by ancient Lithuanian folk music
On Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture welcomes the Kalnas Ensemble to Chicago for what promises to be a memorable concert and exploration of the origins of Lithuanian music. “Kalnas” means “hill” in Lithuania and points to the group’s ethnographic and geographic origins. For the past 150 years, the hills of Pennsylvania have been home to many Lithuanian immigrants and their descendants, who settled the region, worked in the region’s coal mines, and passed down their deep love of traditional Lithuanian music. Founded by Composer, Educator, and Violinist Dr. Stanley Chepaitis, the string quartet’s repertoire will include Chepaitis’s original compositions inspired by ancient Lithuanian traditional plyphonic folk songs called “sutartinės.” Everyone is welcome to attend.
Time: Reception at 6PM – Concert at 7PM
Location: Amber Ball Room, Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago IL 60629
For more information, please contact Sigita Balzekas 773-582-6500.
ABOUT THE KALNAS PRESENTATION
A performance by the Kalnas Ensemble is more than just a concert of passionately played music. It is an exploration of the roots of that music, bringing together aspects of folklore, psychology, history, and the physics of sound. For this program, the Kalnas Ensemble will initiate the audience into the unique ethos of Lithuanian traditional music through discussions and demonstrations of its stories, melodies, and rhythms as envisioned in Dr. Stanley Chepaitis’ original works.Chepaitis dives deeply into his own Lithuanian heritage, and into the heart of the songs, stories, and dances which form the basis and inspiration for the music he creates. From the ancient Sutartinės, which come out of northeastern Lithuania, to more recent folk songs from around the country, this music paints a picture of ancient and medieval Lithuanian life in its focus on nature and the cycles of life. The string quartet’s voices represent a search for the timeless Lithuanian soul and an attempt to bring that soul to modern ears. This performance by the Kalnas Ensemble is designed to offer an appreciation of the deep roots of Lithuanian culture and its impact on the culture of America and of all humanity in the 21st century.
by afoss | Jul 19, 2022
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNITED STATES RECOGNITION OF LITHUANIAN INDEPENDENCE, PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE PREMIERE OF THE NEW LITHUANIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM!
The Lithuanian American Community presents:
BAlzeks Msueum, a documentary film about the efforts of the Lithuanian Americans to support Lithuania‘s independence a hundred years ago.
Film director – Arvydas Reneckis
When: July 29, Friday, 7 pm.
Where: Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, IL 60629
Tickets: Donation. Light refreshments will be served.
The Balzekas Museum gratefully acknowledges its members, donors, and the following grantors for their partial support: the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago Department of Culture and Special Events through CityArts.
