 |
Zita Bružaitė is a silently talented composer not lost in the crush of male composers.
Zita Bružaitė was born on September 3, 1966, graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music, composition class of Prof. Julius Juzeliunas in 1994 and is presently teaching at Juozas Naujalis Music Gymnasium and Kaunas Faculty of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre as well as Kaunas University of Technology.
The composer collaborates with numerous Lithuanian and foreign performers, and her music is constantly in demand in Lithuania and abroad. In 1998, together with the violinist Ilona Klusaite, the composer founded the chamber music ensemble "Collegium" of variable line-up performing 20th century repertoire.
In 2002 and 2004, Zita Bružaitė participated in the creative workshops "Objective 1 = Art = Objective 1 - EU-wide-enlargement" in Eisenstadt (Austria). At the beginning of 2003, she was a composer-in-residence at the Visby International Centre for Composers (Gotland, Sweden). In the same year, she was awarded the prize for the best work in the category of music for large ensembles (for the composition "Fading Dance") at the competition of the Lithuanian Composers' Union, also became a laureate of the "Musical Autumn" festival, and was acknowledged as a most memorable composer at the "Iš Arti" contemporary music festival.
The composer distinguishes two trends in her creative work. One of them includes works based on certain philosophical ideas, which are mainly performed in the contemporary music festivals ("Toeliali", "Rebus musicis et musicantibus", "Spout", "Mosaic", "Bagatelles", "Pilgrims"); due to specific philosophical concepts embodied in music, definition of genre here is of minor importance.
Another group of compositions includes traditional concert music for various instruments ("Burlegy" and "Novelette" for clarinet and piano, "Divertimento" for two pianos, "All Souls' Day" for Lithuanian folk instruments birbynė and kanklės, "Curonians" for soprano and bass kanklės, and others). Music for children (cycles "Songbook", "Carnival", "Three Christmas Carols", instrumental pieces), as well as compositions for choir and folk instruments, could be further defined as distinctive areas of her concert music.
The structural organization in Zita Bružaitė's music is so organic that the rationality of construction is almost imperceptible by ear. Her concert works are often influenced by theatrical imagery; here one can hear echoes of jazz and ethnic music, medieval asceticism as well as processions of modern harmonies, rhythms, and timbres (as in cantata "Songs of Ages", "Blues-mania", "Fugue"). Although the composer used to say that her music never comes as a torrent of sounds and never interferes listener's perceptions with expressive outbursts, now she admits that her compositions are constantly fluctuating between tranquillity and "fauvistic" rush (e.g. cycle of "Sonnets", and "At a Gallop").
The audience of Kaunas Musical Theatre memorised the name of Z.Bružaitė well after the premiere of the opera-parody “War and Peace of Mushrooms”, which was recognised the best performance for children in Kaunas in 2001. It was directed by Aidas Giniotis. In 2007 the opera-ballet "Spider’s Wedding” was presented (dir and choreog. Jurijus Smoriginas). In 2008 Z. Bružaitė was awarded with Fortune prize for the major deposit into the musical life of Kaunas theatres by the created opera “Mermaid” (according to the short story of Friedrich de la Motte Fouque), opera-ballet for children “Spider’s Wedding” (Kaunas State Musical Theatre) and music for the rhymed tale of Daiva Čepauskaitė (according to Charles Perrault) “Increadible Adventures of Puss in Boots”( Kaunas Chamber Theatre).
The composer’s works have been released in the selection “Sonnets” (2008), as well as in joint selections of music recordings of Lithuanian composers: “ Kaunas String Quartet. Mosaic” (2006), “Vilnius Arsenal. Reflections of Space and Time 2” (2007).
In 2007 Z. Bružaitė was elected the Chairperson of the Lithuanian Composers' Union, Kaunas Branch.
More information about the music for orchestra, solo instruments, vocal, choir and folk instruments, performances and chamber music pieces of Z.Bružaitė is presented at mic.lt.
(Prepared according to kamane.lt info and mic.lt)
