VILNIUS MUNICIPAL CHOIR "JAUNA MUZIKA"

The chamber choir “Jauna Muzika” came into being in 1989. From 1990 to 1996, it won together 21 first prizes and Grand Prix in various international choral competitions around the world. In1993 in Varna, Bulgaria, the choir was awarded the highest prize, “The Grand Prix Europeo”, in a competition organised by the International Federation of Choral Music. The members of the choir are professional musicians – graduates and students of the Lithuanian Academy of Music. Depending on the repertoire being performed, the number of the singers ranges from 25 to 50. “Jauna Muzika” was founded by the conductor and composer Remigijus Merkelys. Since 1992, the choir has been led by the conductor and composer Vaclovas Augustinas. “Jauna Muzika” is a very active choir, and gives over 60 concerts at home and abroad every year. As one of the best choirs in Europe, alongside a cappella works, the choir appears with the foremost foreign chamber and symphony orchestras, including the Tel Aviv Symphony Orchestra, the Israeli Camerata, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Berlin Soloists, the Moscow Virtuosi, the St Petersburg Camerata, the Novosibirsk Camerata and Novosibirsk Chamber Orchestra. In Lithuania it collaborates with Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Within 20 years of its activity, the choir has been conducted by many masters of the baton, including Pinchas Steinberg, Wolfgang Gönenwein, Noam Sheriff, Frieder Bernius, David Shallon, Nicholas McGegan, Anders Eby, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Spivakov, Werner Pfaff, Simon Halsey, Hermann Max, Albert Hartinger, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Manfred Honeck, William Boughton, Murry Sidlin, Avner Biron, Reinhard Goebel, Tonu Kaljuste and the Lithuanian conductors Saulius Sondeckis, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Robertas Šervenikas and Donatas Katkus.
An important part of the activities of “Jauna Muzika” is representation of the Lithuanian choral art in foreign countries. The choir has toured in Europe, China, Japan and Israel, appearing at the most famous concert halls, such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Suzan Dellal Center (Tel Aviv), the Fredric R.Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv), the Haifa Auditorium, “Bimot” (Jerusalem), Festsaal Kulturpalast (Dresden), Ludwigsburg Theater im Forum, St Mathias Church (Budapest), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), the Chamber Hall of Berlin Philharmonic, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Grand Opera of Shanghai, the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, “Nowaya Opera”, the G. Vyshnewskaya and the S. Rachmaninov Hall (Moscow), the Queen Elisabeth Hall (London). Besides giving concerts, the Vilnius Municipal Choir “Jauna Muzika” has originated a number of significant projects in Lithuania, among others: international choral workshops; a concert series English and French Baroque Music and a series of concerts, which was devoted to the rebuilding of the Vilnius Evangelical Lutheran Church.

VACLOVAS AUGUSTINAS

Born in 1959, a choral conductor, composer and teacher. He graduated from the Department of Choir Conducting (1981) and the Department of Composition (1992) of the Lithuanian Academy of Music. From 1980 to 1992 he worked at the Ažuoliukas Music School. Since 1992 he has been artistic director of the “Jauna Muzika” choir. Augustinas is a member of the Lithuanian Composers Union, the Lithuanian Choral Union, and the American Association of Choir Conductors. In 1993, he participated as a guest conductor in the Swedish National Choral Conductors Convention in Vaxjo. In 1996, he gave a workshop on choral conducting at the 16th Jornadas Coralistas Aragonesas festival in Spain. In 1998, he was Chief Conductor of the World Lithuanian Song Festival. In 1999, he delivered a series of lectures and gave a workshop at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Rotterdam, Holland. In 2000, he conducted the joint choir of the Nordic and Baltic Countries Choral Assembly. Since 1995, Augustinas has collaborated regularly with Europe‘s leading authorities on choral art. He was engaged in organising workshops in Vilnius with “Jauna Muzika”. Choral music by Augustinas is very popular and is performed often in Lithuania and abroad. His compositions have been published by Alliance Music Publication, Houston, Texas, and Laurendale Associates, Van Nuys, California, USA. He is a winner of several national and international competitions of choral composition, including the Florilege Vocal de Tours, France (1996) and the Song Competition of the Lithuanian National Song Festival (1997 and 1998). Since 1996 Vaclovas Augustinas has been teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Vilnius Pedagogical University, and is also a lecturer at the Arts Faculty of Klaipėda University and the Vilnius Centre for Music Education.