The Festival is famous for the variety of music and performers, the richness of the repertoire, the quality, and creativity. In this Festival, different genres are represented, the performers who are not yet known in Lithuania are presented, and non-traditional stages for the event are prepared.

The participants of the Festival are famous performers, who have already won international recognition, thoroughly selected by the organisers of the Festival. During the previous five festivals, the audience had an opportunity to listen to high-level music performers from different countries: the USA, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Cuba, Georgia, Finland, Romania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, India, Great Britain, Togo, Liberia, Greece, Mexico, Norway, and Canada.

Traditionally, the Festival attracts people of different nations and cultures, and artists usually make new contacts which are further developed in the Lithuanian cultural area.

By selecting a different theme every time, the Festival draws the public’s attention to urgent problems. The 6th International Festival Alternatives is dedicated to tolerance.

Today, Lithuania faces tension, great estrangement, and disunity. All around, we can see phenomena of intolerance – intolerance towards different beliefs, behaviour, and lifestyles, violence, and disrespect for others. Lithuania’s welfare and future will depend on how well the young generation will absorb the principles of tolerance. It is not easy to implement ideas of tolerance in the daily life. We will need to combine all our efforts for this purpose. Our hopes are that by disseminating ideas of tolerance the 6th Festival Alternatives will invite us to take part in a creative quest and changes. The Festival is sought to express resistance to influences that arouse fear, distrust, anxiety, and isolation, to help young people develop an ability to make decisions, and to encourage them to think independently and critically, to reason ethically, to renew, and to change.

The events of the Festival - concerts, discussions, poetry nights, and films – are aimed at developing a more united and harmonious society and disseminating spiritual values such as nationality, public spirit, and respect for others.

The foundations of tolerance are toleration, kindness, search for common touch, forgiveness, and self-criticism. Tolerance starts with free will. Exchange of opinions is one of the pillars of tolerance – the culture of debate. The pre-conditions of tolerance include the desire for knowledge, conscience, openness, and education. Respect for people and tolerance towards different opinions, beliefs and lifestyles must become an integral part of our daily lives.

Lithuanian regions still do not receive sufficient attention. The cultural life in Lithuania should be concentrated not only in Vilnius, the country’s capital city, but also in other cities and towns. The Festival will reduce the gap between regions and enrich the cultural life in Upper Lithuania. The 6th Music Festival Alternative 2007-Tolerance will be held in eight cities of Upper Lithuania, namely Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Utena, Ukmergė, Anykščiai, Kėdainiai, and Zarasai, during October and November of 2007.

Thanks to the sponsors, Alternative will provide an opportunity to the audience to listen to and see the performances of world-famous performers and to get acquainted with classical and modern music, for a symbolic price. According to the violinist Martynas Švėgžda von Bekker, the organiser of the Festival Alternative, “there will be something for everybody to listen to and discover.”