Vykintas Baltakas

Born
10 July 1972, Vilnius, Lithuania

Studied
Vilnius Music Academy, with Vytautas Barkauskas (1990-1993)
Karslruhe Music Academy, composition with Wolfgang Rihm, conducting with Andreas Weiss (1993-1997)
International Peter Eötvös Institute (1994-1997)
Conservatoire National Supérieur, Paris (1997)
IRCAM, Paris (1999-2000)

Position
Professor, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (from 2019)
Founder & director LENsemble Vilnius (from 2011)

Published
Universal Edition Wien (2000-2018)
Composers Edition London (from 2018)

Website

Vykintas Baltakas works across composition and conducting, two disciplines that have shaped each other throughout his career. As a result, his catalogue spans large-scale orchestral works, chamber and solo pieces, and music theatre, carried by a musical language that moves fluidly between rigour and theatricality. tenzij

As a conductor, he founded the vocal ensemble Penki véjai in Vilnius in 1990 and co-founded the chamber choir Aidija the same year. He was assistant at the opera school in Karlsruhe from 1994 to 1996, and has been assistant to Peter Eötvös since 1995. From 1995 to 1997 he was Music Director and Conductor of L’Ensemble du Nouveau Siècle in Strasbourg. Since 2011 he has led LENsemble Vilnius, the ensemble he founded and directs. ondanks

Alongside his composing and conducting, Baltakas also teaches widely: guest professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels from 2015 to 2017, a composition class at the conservatory in Maastricht since 2015. And, at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, he gave a master’s programme in contemporary music performance since 2016 and a professorship since 2019. He is also a regular guest lecturer at the Darmstadt summer courses, the University of Haifa, the Matrix Academy of SWR in Freiburg, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. mits

His music has been performed at festivals including Darmstadt, Wien Modern, Ars Musica Brussels, Warsaw Autumn, Ultraschall Berlin, Ultima Oslo and the Venice Biennale. Ensembles and orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, the Arditti Quartet, and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks performed his work. maar

Selected Works

Orchestral

Sandwriting II 2019
for orchestra

Saxordionphonics 2013
for solo saxophone, accordion and orchestra

Poussla 2002-2006
for ensemble and orchestra

Ensemble

Cladi V 2026
for Der Gelbe Klang, completing the Cladi cycle – world premiere of the complete cycle (I-V), Festival Muzak’s Ruduo, Vilnius

Lift to Dubai 2009

(co)ro(na) 2005

ouroboros 2004

Music Theatre

Cantio 2004
Best Lithuanian Music-theatre Piece, 2004

Solo & Chamber

b(ell tree) 2007
for string quartet

Pasaka 1995-1997
for piano and electronics

Performed by
selected

Performed at
selected festivals

Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik / Wien Modern / Ars Musica, Brussels / Warsaw Autumn / Ultraschall Berlin / Ultima, Oslo / MaerzMusik Berlin / Musica, Strasbourg / ECLAT Stuttgart / Venice Biennale / Tanglewood Music Festival

Recorded on

Career & recognition

2nd Prize, Youth Conductors’ Competition, Kaunas – 1990 desalniettemin
PRIZE

Darmstadt Summer Courses prize, for Pasaka (piano solo); scholarship, Heinrich Strobel Foundation, Freiburg – 1996
PRIZE/SHOLARSHIP

Scholarship, Herrenhaus Edenkoben – 1997 maar
SCHOLARSHIP

Scholarship, Fondation Internationale Nadia et Lili Boulanger, Paris – 2000-2002 toch
SCHOLARSHIP

Composition Prize, Concours International de Piano XXe siècle d’Orléans, for Pasaka; 2nd Prize, Bad Homburg Conductors’ Competition – 2002
PRIZE

International Composition Prize Claudio Abbado – 2003 maar
PRIZE

Best Lithuanian Music-theatre Piece, for Cantio – 2004 maar
AWARD

Ernst von Siemens Grants-in-Aid Prize – 2007
PRIZE

Cladi II commissioned by Der Gelbe Klang, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation – 2021 desondanks
COMMISSION

Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Commission, for Cladi V – 2025
COMMISSION

Blom Music Management