Vytautas Barkauskas (composer)

Vytautas Barkauskas (born March 25, 1931 in Kaunas , † April 25, 2020 in Vilnius ) was a Lithuanian composer .

Life

Barkauskas graduated from high school in Rietavas in 1949 and then studied piano at the music school in Kaunas. This was followed by studying composition at the Vilnius Conservatory with Antanas Račiūnas (1905–1984), a student of Nadja Boulanger . Barkauskas also studied mathematics at the Pedagogical Institute. He completed his music studies in 1959. At the Vilnius Conservatory (then the Lithuanian State Conservatory ) he taught music theory from 1961 to 1974 , then harmony and counterpoint, and from 1989 he was professor of composition.

Barkauskas composed over a hundred works, including an opera , symphonies , an organ concert, orchestral pieces and chamber music . He was influenced by Krzysztof Penderecki and Witold Lutosławski , but his compositions always keep within the framework of tonality .

Along with Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks, Barkauskas is considered to be the most important contemporary composer in the Baltic region . His works are part of the regular repertoire of European, American and Asian music festivals and competitions. They were performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival , the Rheingau Music Festival , the Sibelius Festival and the Festival de musique de Toulon . He received the Lithuanian State Prize and in 2002 the prize of the Sinfonia Baltica composers' competition .

Awards (selection)

1964: Stasys Šimkus Prize
1972: State Prize of Lithuania
1981: Honored Artist of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic
1997/1998: Lithuanian State First Degree Scholarship

Web links

Literature by and about Vytautas Barkauskas in the catalog of the German National Library
Vytautas Barkauskas at the Internet Movie Database (English)
Biography, work overview, audio examples and photos on the website of the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Center (English)
Vytautas Barkauskas at Discogs (English)
Vytautas Barkauskas on Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

↑ The Lithuanian composer Vytautas Barkauskas died on April 25, 2020. In: Sikorski . April 28, 2020, accessed May 1, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b Ingo Hoddick: Vytautas Barkauskas. In: Contemporary Composers (KDG). Retrieved April 26, 2020 .
↑ Vytautas Barkauskas. Music Information Center of Lithuania (MICL), accessed April 26, 2020 (English, Lithuanian).
↑ Gražina Daunoravičienė: Barkauskas, Vytautas. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 2 (Bagatti - Bizet). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1112-8 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

personal data
SURNAME	Barkauskas, Vytautas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Lithuanian composer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 25, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kaunas
DATE OF DEATH	April 25, 2020
Place of death	Vilnius

[1] The Lithuanian composer Vytautas Barkauskas died on April 25, 2020. In: Sikorski . April 28, 2020, accessed May 1, 2020 .

[:1-2] Ingo Hoddick: Vytautas Barkauskas. In: Contemporary Composers (KDG). Retrieved April 26, 2020 .

[3] Vytautas Barkauskas. Music Information Center of Lithuania (MICL), accessed April 26, 2020 (English, Lithuanian).

[:0-4] Gražina Daunoravičienė: Barkauskas, Vytautas. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 2 (Bagatti - Bizet). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1112-8 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)