Šarūnas Nakas

Šarūnas Nakas (born August 2, 1962) is a Lithuanian composer, essayist, curator, filmmaker and broadcaster. A student of Julius Juzeliūnas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, he graduated in 1986 before going to Poland for further study between 1988 and 1991; he has also worked at the IRCAM in Paris (1998). Meanwhile, he followed classes with Witold Lutoslawski, Louis Andriessen and Gérard Grisey. In 1982, Nakas founded the Vilnius New Music Ensemble, with which he has toured in 15 European countries and Canada for eighteen consecutive years. Nakas was also artistic director of the Gaida contemporary music festival (1996) and Musica Ficta festival (1997), both in Vilnius. In 2001 he wrote a textbook on contemporary music, the first of its kind in Lithuania. Between 2000 and 2007 he was a musical editor of the cultural monthly Kultūros barai in Vilnius. Since 2002 he's hosting programs about contemporary music on Lithuanian radio. Since 2011, he has been moderating the online magazine for contemporary music modus-radio.com. Since 2005, he has worked on multi-channel video installations, using his own music as soundtrack. In 2012, Nakas founded the Šarūnas Nakas' Multimedia Quintet. He was co-curator of the international art exhibition Dialogues of Colour and Sound. Works by M. K. Čiurlionis and his contemporaries in Vilnius (2009). Nakas was awarded the Lithuanian National Arts and Culture Prize in 2007, and has received numerous other awards for his work.