Eiti prie turinio 
There’s a surprise in store for the 13th season of „The Voice of Lithuania.“ The dual coaches’ chair is making a comeback, and sitting in it are Lithuania’s favorites, the Žemaitukai. They’ll be competing against the previously revealed coaches—performers Aistė and Monika Liu—to determine who are the strongest performers on the show.
The Žemaitukai are open about it—they’re thrilled to have the opportunity to become teachers for the project: „We’ve been following the project and often discussed whether we’d ever get the chance to take on the role of teachers. Quite unexpectedly, that’s exactly what happened—we found ourselves in that role. For us, this is a tremendous honor. We’d been dreaming about this for a long time.“
Throughout the entire history of „The Voice of Lithuania,“ there have been only four instances where more than one contestant sat in the same chair. The first couple to participate in the show was Jurgis Didžiulis and Erica Jennings, followed by Inga and Arūnas Valinskai, Renata and Deivis Norvilai, and finally, a trio took the seat with the girls from the band „69 Danguje.“.
When asked what they would do if their opinions differed on which button to press, the Žemaitukai joke: „If we have to, we’ll even fight it out to put together a really strong team.“
The new teachers on the project were participants in this project themselves eight years ago. „The project gave us so much—it was the first time we sang with a live band, and the project’s creative team was very open and shared their best experiences with us. We both made it to the finals, and my greatest personal achievement was proposing to my wife on stage,“ recalls Linas Vaitkevičius.
When asked what their strengths as teachers will be, the performers say, „Whoever chooses us will get two teachers and the combined experience of two people.“ The Žemaitukai smile: „Our wedding experience will definitely come in handy—we’ll teach them how to improvise and perform on the spot.“
When it comes to professional experience, Žemaitukai can boast a solid foundation of academic knowledge. Linas earned a degree in percussion from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, Ovidijus completed his studies in music education at Šiauliai College, and both performers also graduated from the Stasys Šimkus Conservatory.
The Žemaitukai are eagerly awaiting the upcoming filming and are sharing their thoughts on what kind of team they’d like to put together for the project: „We’re looking for people who can sing well and have a good sense of humor, so we can have a laugh and not feel the kind of pressure our teachers used to put on us.“
Ovidijus muses jokingly: „It would be great to put together a team of Samogitians! But it would also be interesting to work with foreigners who don’t have the slightest idea about us.“
The cult music show „The Voice of Lithuania“ is returning to LNK this fall. And if you want to be the first to see it all live, take part in the blind auditions, which will be filmed on July 15 and 16 at the „Stage Lite“ studio in Vilnius.
