MARTYNAS STAŠKUS

BIOGRAPHY

Martynas Staškus graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in opera and orchestral conducting in 1995. That same year he was engaged at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre as an Assistant Conductor and has been one of the company’s resident conductors since 1996. In 1997–1998 he was Chief Conductor of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. 

Martynas Staškus is the prize-winner of many national and international competitions such like International Choir Conducting Competition in Wrozlaw, Poland (first prize), International Choir Competition in Arezzo, Italy (third prize), International Choir Competition in Tour, France (special prize), International Choir Competition in Miltenberg, Germany (second prize) and International J. Naujalis Choir Conducting Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania (first prize). 

His repertoire includes over 40 operatic works such as Verdi "Nabucco", "Macbeth", "Aida", "Otello", "La Traviata", "Un Ballo in Maschera", "La Forza del Destino", Puccini "Tosca", "Gianni Schicchi", "Suor Angelica", "Turandot", "Madama Butterfly", Halevy "La Juive", Strauss "Wiener Blut", Mozart "Entführung aus dem Serail", "Don Giovanni", "Le nozze di Figaro", Weber "Der Freischütz", Gounod "Faust", Gaižauskas "Buratino", Britten "Let’s Make an Opera!", Gluck "Orfeo ed Euridice" etc.; ballets Theodarakis "Zorba the Greek", Tchaikovsky "The Nutcracker", Bizet–Shchedrin "Carmen", Mendelssohn – Bartholdy "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet", A. L. Minkus "La Bayadere", H. Lovenskjold "La Sylphide", A. Adam "Giselle", etc.; many works of symphonic, chamber and choral music by Beethoven, Ravel, Mozart, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Haydn, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and others. 

Martynas Staškus has been the music director of three world premieres, Mindaugas Urbaitis’ ballet "Acid City" and Bronius Kutavičius’ operas "The Bear" (released on Ondine in 2002 – Audio CD) and "Ignis et Fides". 

Martynas Staškus has conducted performances of internationally acclaimed artists Virgilijus Noreika, Irena Milkevičiūtė, Vytautas Juozapaitis, Violeta Urmana, Edgaras Montvidas, Badri Maisuradze, Gidon Kremer, Kshishtof Broya, Alexander Paley and many others. 

His stage partnerships include those with renowned stage directors Jonas Jurašas, Gintaras Varnas, Jonas Vaitkus, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Günter Krämer, Monika Wiesler, Detlef Soelter, Anthony Minghella, choreographers Vesta Grabštaitė, Anželika Cholina, Andrej Melanjin, Krzysztof Pastor and Boris Eifman among others.

Martynas Staškus has conducted in many prominent festivals such like Gaida International Festival of Modern Music, Schubert – Haydn Festival, the Vilnius Festival, Murten Classics Festival in Switzerland, the Trakai Festival, to name a few. His concert credits include programmes with the Lithuanian Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Vilnius Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, International Nordic/Baltic Youth Chamber Orchestra, Jugendsimfonieorchester Nordrhein – Westfalen, Kremerata Baltica, Ankara Opera Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Music Academy Opera Orchestra and other ensembles.

Guest performances have taken him to Holland, Germany, Italy, Estonia, France, Denmark, Taiwan, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Poland and elsewhere.