Lithuania on Music Theory Print

Arturas Bumšteinas

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Arturas Bumšteinas is Lithuanian composer and sound artist. Active in the field of art music since the end of the 90s, in the year 2012 he started performing under his Refusenik moniker. Biography Arturas Bumšteinas (b.1982, Vilnius) is a Lithuanian artist working within the intersections of sound, music and art. His practices could be divided into several categories: experimental music, acoustic sound works, sound installations, pieces for theatre, radio art. In the mid-1990s Bumšteinas was the first Lithuanian artist to use the internet to collect sounds from people around the world and make collage-compositions from these submissions. He is the initiator of various musical projects and since 2000 he has collaborated with different artists like Anton Lukoszevieze, Vladimir Tarasov, Krystian Lupa, Žilvinas Kempinas, Gintautas Trimakas, Lina Lapelytė, Vaiva Grainytė, Laura Garbštienė, Gailė Griciūtė, Piotr Kurek, Ivan Cheng and others. Bumšteinas’s projects were presented in various venues in Europe and his solo exhibitions have been held at Vilnius Contemporary Art Center, Vartai Gallery, AV17, Galerie Antje Wachs and at various residencies around Europe. In 2017 Bumšteinas was an

Bronius Kutavičius

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Bronius Kutavičius (13 September 1932 – 29 September 2021) was a Lithuanian composer and academic composition teacher. He wrote numerous oratorios and operas, often inspired by ancient Lithuanian polytheistic beliefs and music. He also composed film scores, orchestral works and chamber music. Kutavičius is regarded as a symbol of Lithuanian cultural identity, both in music and in politics. He studied Western techniques such as random operations, timbre experiments and spatial sound concepts (Zufallsoperationen, Klangfarbenexperimente und Raumklangkonzepte). He worked from 1991 to 1995 on one of his major works, The Gates of Jerusalem, which earned him the Lithuanian State Prize in 1996. He composed his first opera in 2000, Lokys to a libretto by Aušra Marija Sluckaitė-Jurašienė based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée. His music is performed at international festivals, including the Warsaw Autumn, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Mare Balticum, Wratislavia Cantans, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Spitalfields Festival, MaerzMusik, ISCM World Music Days in Vilnius. Kutavičius died in Vilnius at age 89. Works Although an element of drama appears in compositions by Kutavičius,

Jurgis Karnavičius (composer)

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Jurgis Karnavičius (23 April 1884 – 22 December 1941) was a Lithuanian composer of classical music and a forerunner of the development of Lithuanian operatic works. Biography Karnavičius was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, which at the time was a part of the Russian Empire. After completing his basic education in his homeland, he began the study of Law in St. Petersburg, Russia. Karnavičius’s son, also named Jurgis Karnavičius (1912–2001), was a pianist and the long-time rector of the Lithuanian Academy of Music. His grandson, Jurgis Karnavičius (born 1957), is a concert pianist. Music had always been his main interest, and he began to simultaneously study music theory and composition. This soon superseded his pursuit of a career in the legal profession. His primary instrument was the viola. Eventually he became a professor at the Conservatory of Music in the now renamed city of Leningrad. During this period he began experimenting with his own theories of musical composition and began writing his own works. In 1927, Karnavičius returned to Lithuania, which had only regained its independence as a sovereign nation less than ten years earlier. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory of

Osvaldas Balakauskas

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Osvaldas Jonas Balakauskas (19 December 1937 – 15 April 2026) was a Lithuanian composer of classical music, academic teacher and diplomat. He taught at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he served as head of the composition department from 1988 to 1992 and again from 1995. From 1992 to 1994, he served as Lithuania’s ambassador to France, Spain and Portugal. Balakauskas composed five symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and a Requiem in memory of Stasys Lozoraitis. Life and career Balakauskas was born in and was buried in the city’s Antakalnis Cemetery. Symphony No. 2 (1979), Opera Strumentale (1987) and Symphonies No. 4 (1998) and No. 5 (2001). * Passio Strumentale for string quartet and orchestra (1980) * Concerto for oboe, harpsichord and string orchestra (1981) * Sinfonia Concertante for violin, piano and orchestra (1982) * Concerto RK for violin and chamber orchestra (1997) * Concerto Brio for violin and orchestra (1999) * Capriccio for piano and orchestra (2004) * Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra (2008) * Seasons for two pianos and string orchestra (2009) ; Chamber music * Sonatas for violin and piano (1969; No. 2, 2005; February Sonata, 2012) * Kaip

Raminta Šerkšnytė

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Raminta Šerkšnytė (born 1975) is a Lithuanian composer, pianist and Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts laureate. Life and career Šerkšnytė was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. From 1982 to 1994, she studied music at Kaunas J. Naujalio high school and with her aunt, Rymantė Šerkšnytė. From 1994 to 2000, she studied composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music with Osvaldas Balakauskas. From 1997 to 2007, she studied composition abroad. After completing her studies, she worked as a pianist and composer. Her music has been performed internationally in Berlin, New York, Toronto, Moscow and at a number of international music festivals. Awards *1995 – Juozas Gruodis Composers Competition, first prize for the song Misterioso for two flutes and bass *2003 and 2006 – Lithuanian Composers’ Union, twice awarded the prize for the best chamber work (2003 for Oriental Elegy for string quartet, 2006 for Almond Blossom for chamber ensemble) *2005 – Gold Cross of the Scene as the best theater composer *2005 – Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Prize for young artists *2005 – UNESCO ’s International Rostrum of Composers for “Vortex” for solo violin and ensemble *2007 – Muses Mill Prize *2008 – L

Stasys Šimkus

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Stasys Šimkus (23 January 1887, Motiškiai, now in Jurbarkas district municipality, Russian Empire – 15 October 1943, Kaunas, Reichskommissariat Ostland) was a Lithuanian composer. Šimkus studied in Vilnius and Warsaw and later became the pupil of Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov, Jāzeps Vītols, and Maximilian Steinberg. After visiting the United States, he went to Leipzig for further studies with Paul Graener and Sigfrid Karg-Elert. A national Romantic, Šimkus helped resurrect the Lithuanian cultural organization Daina in 1916. In 1923, he opened a private music school in Klaipėda, which was soon converted into the national Lithuanian Conservatory (now called the Klaipėda Stasys Šimkus Conservatoire). He was a professor of composition at the Conservatoire from 1931 to 1937 and also conducted the State Opera at Kaunas. Šimkus composed several operas, a cantata, a symphonic poem, a piano suite, a ballade, choral works, lieder, and church music. He composed the music for Lietuvininkai we are born by Georg Sauerwein. His son Algis Šimkus also became a renowned conductor but in Canada instead of Jamaica, pianist, and composer. A group of cultural operators in Klaipėda, led by Vytautas Blū

Vykintas Baltakas

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Vykintas Baltakas (born July 10, 1972, in Vilnius, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian composer and conductor known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. Education and early career Baltakas studied at the Vilnius Music Academy from 1990 to 1993 under Vytautas Barkauskas. In 1993, he moved to Karlsruhe, Germany, to study composition with Wolfgang Rihm and conducting with Andreas Weiss at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. Between 1994 and 1997, he also studied at the International Eötvös Institute under Peter Eötvös. In 1997, Baltakas continued his studies in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur and later attended IRCAM’s composition and computer music course from 1999 to 2000. Professional career Vykintas Baltakas is active in contemporary music, participating in festivals and collaborating with various European ensembles. His works have been commissioned by institutions such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Biennale, the Wiener Festwochen/Klangforum Wien, the Ensemble Modern, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/musica viva, the Venice Biennale, the Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium, and Maerz Musik Berlin. His compositions have been performed and

Vytautas Bacevičius

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Vytautas Bacevičius (9 September 1905, in Łódź, Poland then Russian Empire – 15 January 1970, in New York City, United States) was a Lithuanian composer of radical and modernistic leanings. Most of his works are in an atonal idiom of his own devising. He developed a theory of ‘cosmic music’ and came to regard Schoenberg’s 12-note music as out-dated, regarding himself as a successor to Scriabin, André Jolivet and Varèse. Bacevičius studied in Łódź with, among others, Kazimierz Sikorski and moved to Kaunas in Lithuania in 1926. In 1927 he went to Paris, where he studied composition with Nikolai Tcherepnin and graduated from the Paris Conservatory in 1928. Returning to Lithuania in 1928, he established himself as a pianist and composer and teacher. He became the Chair of the Lithuanian Section of the ISCM. He was on tour in Argentina in 1939 when the Germans invaded Lithuania, rendering him an exile in America. He moved to the United States in 1940 and lived mainly in New York, continuing to give recitals but mainly supporting himself by teaching. He made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall on November 28, 1940. Although born in Poland, he adopted the Lithuanian form of his name (Bace

Vytautas Miškinis

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Vytautas Miškinis (born 5 June 1954) is a Lithuanian composer, choral conductor and academic teacher. He is the artistic director of Ąžuoliukas, a boys’ and youth choir and music school, and of other ensembles, performing internationally. He has taught choral conducting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre since 1985. His groups have won prizes at international competitions, where he also served as a member of the jury. His compositions are part of the international standard choral repertoire. Life Miškinis was born in Vilnius, then Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union, in a musical family. He began his musical career with the Vilnius Teacher House Boys Choir (now Ąžuoliukas), at the age of seven. External links * * * Vytautas Miškinis Music Export Lithuania * Vytautas Miškinis: Der Internationale Stasys Šimkus-Chorwettbewerb in Litauen (in German) icb.ifcm.net * Litauen und Amerika: das geht gut / Chorleiter-Forum mit Referenten aus den USA und Litauen (in German) Neue Musikzeitung 3/2005 * Ąžuoliukas Celebrates its 60th birthday. The Light of Life / To mark the 60th birthday of the Ąžuoliukas boys and youth choir and the 40th anniversary of Ąžuoliukas Music School filharmonija.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė

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Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (born 4 May 1973) is a Lithuanian composer based in New York City. In 2022 she was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts. In 2020 Martinaitytė received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Lithuanian Government Prize for Culture and Arts for her creative achievements. Her work In Search of Lost Beauty…. received two gold medals at the Global Music Awards for “Best Composer” and Best Album. Life Žibuoklė Martinaitytė studied music from 1979 to 1991 at the Kaunas J. Naujalis Art school. From 1991 to 1997 she studied composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius under Professor Bronius Kutavičius and Julius Juzeliūnas. After graduating in 1997, she attended various summer courses for composers: Darmstädter Ferienkurse, the 6th International Academy for New Composition and Audio Art in Schwaz/Tirol, Austria with Bogusław Schaeffer and Marek Chołoniewski, Fondation Royaumont in France with Brian Ferneyhough, José Evangelista and Jean-Luc Herve, IRCAM/Centre Acanthes in France with Jonathan Harvey and Michael Jarrell and the Stavanger orchestral music course in Norway with Ole Lützow-Holm. When Vilnius became the European Ca