Vidmantas Bartulis is powerful but does not like boasting.
Vidmantas Bartulis was born on April 3, 1954 and graduated from the Lithuanian State Conservatoire (present Academy of Music) in 1980, the class of composition of Prof. Eduardas Balsys. He worked at the J. Gruodis College of Music in Kaunas for three years. Since 1983, he has been working as a musical director, and from 1999 to 2002 - general director of Kaunas Drama Theatre.
In 1996 Bartulis was recognised the Best Theatre Composer in Lithuania. In 1998 he was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize. From 2001 he is chairman of Kaunas Division of the Lithuanian Composers' Union and artistic director of the contemporary music festival "Iš Arti".
The works by Bartulis are constantly performed at various modern music festivals in Lithuania and abroad, including the Festival of Electronic Music in Sophia (1985), Warszawska Jesien (1990, 1997), Baltisk Musikfestival (Stockholm, 1991), Musikhost (Denmark, 1992), Die Festival (France, 1997), and many others.
In 2003 a series of four Bartulis' portrait concerts was organized in different cities of Canada. In the same year he was awarded "Composer of the Year" and the prize for the best orchestral work (oratorio "Poor Little Man Job" for symphony orchestra, choir and soloists) at the competition arranged by the Lithuanian Composers' Union. In 2005 he was hailed the most prominent artist of the city of Kaunas. In 2006 the composer was granted the prize of the Art Creators’ Association for a concert for two violins and a symphony orchestra, oratory “Road” and symphony "Garden".
The composer’s works have been released in selections “Requiem” (1998), “Psalms” (2001), “Coming” (2008), as well as in joint selections of music recordings of Lithuanian composers: “Strand. Chamber Music of Lithuanian Composers”“ (1998), “St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. Works of Lithuanian Composers” (1999), “Birutė Vainiūnaitė. Lithuanian Piano Music” (2001), “zoom in 3: new music from Lithuania” (2004), “Kaunas String Quartet. L'Eau éblouissante” (2007), “zoom in 6: new music from Lithuania” (2007), “Vilnius Arsenal. Reflections of Space and Time 2” (2007).
Vidmantas Bartulis - the author of chamber and symphonic, instrumental and vocal, stage and studio, theatre and cinema, electronic and multi-media music - distinguishes among Lithuanian composers by his tremendous output, universality of genres and versatility of styles and manners.
He appeared on the arena of Lithuanian musical life in the late 1970s, representing a distinctly defined generation of composers united by general ideas, aesthetic principles and the features of musical media. This group of like-minded composers (Vidmantas Bartulis, Onutė Narbutaitė, Algirdas Martinaitis, Mindaugas Urbaitis, and others) created works of chamber genres - introverted, contemplative, elegiac, imbued with natural aspirations, frequently emphasized by the poetic titles of the works. Their musical language was not complex but clear, with some features of minimalism.
Another feature characteristic of these composers deserves attention: sometimes they would encrust their works with musical citations from earlier epochs, striving not for polystilistic or collage effects but rather for a naturally emerging feeling, thought or mood when it was directly required by the work. The works of Vidmantas Bartulis are particularly rich in such episodes of "foreign but his own" music.
In the late 1980s, Bartulis' unexpected experiments related to the genre of instrumental theatre caused a great surprise. It must have been his experience as a theatre composer for many years (he has written music for over a hundred drama plays) that prompted him to take up independent direction of his own "dramas". The composer has never hesitated to "invite" into his music fragments of works created by composers of recent or more distant epochs, sometimes very cautiously, sometimes rather drastically.
Major works for the theatre
1982. Juozas Glinskis. Kristibaba (director Viktoras Valašinas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1982. Michail Shatrov. Blue Horses in Red Meadow (director Jonas Vaitkus, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1982. Thornton Wilder. Our Town (director Jonas Vaitkus, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1982. Semion Zlotnikov. Scenes at the Fountain (director G. Rudenko, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1983. Juozas Grušas. Finish Bathhouse (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1984. Michail Bulgakov. Moliere (director Irena Bučienė, Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1984. Ema Mikulėnaitė. Always the Same (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1985. Juozas Marcinkevičius. Erelnyčia (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1985. John B. Priestley. Time and the Conways (director Jonas Vaitkus, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1985. Nikolaj Gogol. Crazy Man's Notes (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1986. Juozas Grušas. Herkus Mantas (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1986. August Strindberg. On the Road to Damask (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1986. Vidmantė Jasiukaitytė. Žemaitė (director Gytis Padegimas, Šiauliai Drama Theatre)
1987 Liudmila Razumovskaja. Closest People (director Neris Karpuškaitė, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1987. William Shakespeare. Hamlet (director Irena Bučienė, Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1987. Semion Zlotnikov. Fourth Day after He Disappeared (director Algimantas Pociūnas, Panevėžys Drama Theatre)
1987. Sam Shepard. Dug Child (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1988. Balys Sruoga. Fearful Night (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1988. Per Olov Enquist. From Worms’ Life (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1991. Thornton Wilder. Long Christmas Supper (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
1988 Vidmantė Jasiukaitytė. Žilvinas (director Gytis Padegimas, Šiauliai Drama Theatre)
1989 Peter Shaffer. Equus (director Algimantas Pociūnas, Panevėžys Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre)
1989 According to Romualdas Granauskas. Life under a Maple (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1989 Antanas Škėma. Awakening (Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1989 Algirdas Landsbergis. Five Poles in Market Square (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1990 Vaižgantas. Mute Man (director Algimantas Pociūnas, Panevėžys Drama Theatre)
1990 Aušra Marija Sluckaitė. Sand Claviers (director Jonas Jurašas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1990 Helg Hagerup. A Man From Yesterday (director Vytautas Dapšys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1991 Harold Pinter. Language of Mountains (director Jonas Jurašas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1991 Thornton Wilder. Long Christmas Supper (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1991 Edward Bond. Sea (director Cezaris Graužinis, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1991. Oskaras Milašius. Mefibosetas (director Gytis Padegimas, Šiauliai Drama Theatre)
1992 Federic García Lorca. Jerma (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1992 William Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice (director Povilas Gaidys, Klaipėda Drama Theatre)
1993. Samuel Beckett. Krapp’s Last Tape (director Valentinas Masalskis, Kaunas Small Theatre, centre Art Aside)
1993 Thornton Wilder. At Hair’s Margin from Death (director (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1994 Jean Michael Rib. In the Castle near the Woods (director A. Lebeliūnas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1994 Paul Claudel. Midday Division (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1994 Athol Fugard. Hello and Goodbye (director Arvydas Lebeliūnas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1994 Harold Pinter. Returning Home (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1995 William Shakespeare. Empty Love Attempts (director Gytis Bernardas Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1996 Mark Zinger. Around the Fountain or Small Paris (director Gytis Padegimas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1996 Noël Coward. Personal Lives (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
1997. Luigi Pirandello. Henric IV (director Rolandas Atkočiūnas, Šiauliai Drama Theatre)
1997. Jean-Paul Sartre. Behind Closed Doors (director Rolandas. Atkočiūnas, Klaipėda Drama Theatre)
1998. Peter Ustinov. Photo-finish (director Rolandas Atkočiūnas, Klaipėda Drama Theatre)
1998. Astrid Saalbach. Dance Lesson (director M. Kimelė, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
1999. Athol Fugard. Dimetas (director Rolandas Atkočiūnas, Šiauliai Drama Theatre)
1999. Pierre Beaumarchais. Figaro Wedding (director Vytautas Balsys, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
1999. Sigitas Poškus. Before Flying to Heaven (director Arvydas Lebeliūnas, Klaipėda Drama Theatre)
2000. Anton Chechov. Unfinished Play (Parentless) (director Rolandas Atkočiūnas, Klaipėda Drama Theatre)
2000 Antanas Žekas. Hunt for Woodcocks (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2000 Eugene Ionesco. Walking in Spaces (director Algirdas Latėnas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2001. Dazai Osamu ...And It's Time to Go (director Valius Tertelis, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2001. Juozas Grušas. Love, Jazz and Devil (director Jonas Vaitkus, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2001 Aldona Kudlaitė. Island of Liars (director Aldona Kudlaitė, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2001 Jean-Luc Lagarce. Distant Land (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2001 Bjorga Vik. Winter Garden (director Viktoras Valašinas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2002 Aleksej Dudarev. Dump Yard (director Neris Karpuškaitė-Akelaitienė, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2003. Augustinas Gricius. Palanga (director Viktoras Valašinas, Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2006 Marius Macevičius. Antoškos Kartoškos (director Ramunė Kudzmanaitė, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2006 Vladimir Djachenko. Woman in Autumn Style (director Sergejus Paciukas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2006 Jalmar Bergman. The Last Swain (director Viktoras Valašinas, Kaunas Artists’ House)
2007 Harold Muller. Silent Night (director Viktoras Valašinas, Kaunas Artists‘ Home)
2008 Daiva Čepauskaitė. Jūratė and Kastytis (director Olegas Žiugžda, Kaunas Puppet Theatre)
2008 Daiva Čepauskaitė. Green Green Apple (director Arvydas Lebeliūnas, Kaunas Puppet Theatre)
***
2008 "The Third Fast Train, or the Trip of Glinka and Nemirovičius-Dančenko by Train from Saint Petersburg to Moscow"2008 Symphony "Return" 2007 opera "Pas de Deux" (libretto by Vidmantas Bartulis according to Alexandre Dumas texts)
2007 "Dreams" (inter-disciplinary project combining music and video-installation art according to Jonas Mekas, along with Julius Ziz)
2006 chamber opera “Aušrinė” (libretto of Vidmantas Bartulis according to the mythological tale of Liudvikas Jakimavičius)
2006 opera - oratory “Mozart’s Birthday”
2004 mystery “Curonians”
2003 oratory of songs “Our Lithuania”
1993. Opera “Lesson” according to Eugene Ionesco. V.Bartulis – composer and libretto author, performer of the conductor’s role. (Director Valentinas Masalskis. Art Rally. Kaunas).
More information about the music of V.Bartulis for orchestra, solo instruments, vocal, choir, electro-acoustics, performances and chamber music pieces is presented in the portal mic.lt
Prepared according to kamane.lt info, mic.lt, menufaktura.lt
