ONUTĖ GRAŽINYTĖ, GIEDRĖ ŠLEKYTĖ AND LSSO

This spring, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra invites you to meet two extremely talented personalities who are making Lithuania famous around the world – pianist Onutė Gražinytė and conductor Giedrė Šlekytė.

Born into a family of musicians, Onutė Gražinytė began studying music at the age of five. In 2015, the pianist went to study at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, and since 2021 she has continued her studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. O. Gražinytė performs extensively in Lithuania and abroad – in Poland, Switzerland, Germany, France, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere. The pianist has already played with the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Lyon National Philharmonic, Basel, Birmingham and other famous symphony orchestras. In 2020, O. Gražinytė collaborated with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the record label Accentus Music (Leipzig) to record the album of Arvo Pärt's music “Lamentate”. The album received excellent reviews from foreign critics: the highest ratings were given to it by international classical music magazines BBC Music Magazine (Great Britain), “Pizzicato” (Germany), “Diapason d'or” and “Diapason d'or Arte” (France). A. Pärt himself expressed his admiration for O. Gražinytė: “She is a pianist who, despite her young age, has already achieved extraordinary maturity. I greatly appreciate her musical sensitivity in performing my works.” (Accentus, 2020). This spring, O. Gražinytė will perform Robert Schumann's (1810–1856) Piano Concerto in A minor, one of the most famous piano works of the Romantic era in the world, at the LSSO Concert Hall, together with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. The concert will also feature Hector Berlioz's (1803–1869) Love Scene from the choral symphony “Romeo and Juliet”, Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė's (b. 1975) “Midsummer Song” and Richard Strauss' (1864–1949) symphonic fantasy from the opera “Die Frau ohne Schatten”.

The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė, a conductor currently residing in Austria. G. Šlekytė studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria, the Academy of Music and Theatre in Leipzig and the Zurich University of Arts. The Lithuanian maestro is expected at the most famous European opera houses: in the 2024–2025 season, the conductor will make her debut at the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and will conduct opera productions at the Vienna Musical Theatre, the Berlin State Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, and elsewhere. In November 2023, replacing the ill conductor Daniel Barenboim, G. Šlekytė performed the highly acclaimed Brahms symphony cycle with the Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra in Toronto. Critics have lavished praise on the conductor, mentioning her “freshness, precision, and dynamism of her interpretations.” G. Šlekytė is an active ambassador of Lithuanian music. Together with conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, she recorded an album of R. Šerkšnytė's music, which was released by the prestigious international record company Deutsche Grammophon.