 Before Kudirka 's death , the first performance of the poem occurred at a concert in St. Petersburg , Russia in 1899 . The concert was conducted by <unk> <unk> and was attended by Lithuanians , which St. Petersburg had the largest population of at that time . The anthem was first performed in Lithuania during the Great <unk> of <unk> on December 3 , 1905 . 
