Competition Jury

MODESTAS BARKAUSKAS 
- Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. In 1997-2001 he studied choral conducting at Šiauliai Music Conservatory. In 2001-2005 he successfully continued his BA studies at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (with Professor J. Aleksa and associate professor D. Puišys). In 2006-2007 he gained his MA degree in choral conducting. In 2006-2013 he studied orchestral conducting with Professor Juozas Domarkas and gained his MA in orchestral conducting...read more

CHRISTIAN JOST
(b. 19563)- the composer and conductor Christian Jost has had a decisive influence on contemporary music over the past 20 years. Awarded the Siemens Förderpreis in 2003, his ten full-length operas and a large number of large symphonic works have been performed by such important opera houses and orchestras as the Zurich Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Grafenegg Festival, the Theater an der Wien, the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, by the Flemish Opera Antwerp/Gent, the Komische Oper Berlin and the Grand Theater de Geneva, the Taiwan Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and are now part of the repertoire of European stages and international orchestras.
In terms of sound, his music follows the idea of structural improvisation, which develops as a process from musical germ cells. An organic structure known in jazz as the third way - Modern Creative. Christian Jost's works are always about organic flow and lively breathing.
The transformation of the freedom and the groove of jazz and the strict structure of classical and new music into an independent form.
Always on the lookout for modern and exciting narrative levels, Jost has developed new, innovative works for music theater, which he creates in a magical dramaturgy that dissolves time and space. Representative of this are the operas EGMONT, RED LANTERN, THE ARABIAN NIGHT, HAMLET and JOURNEY OF HOPE-VOYAGE VERS L'ESPOIR as well as DICHTERLIEBE, newly composed after Robert Schumann and the NOCTURNAL PROJECT with the German jazz pianist Michael Wollny.
Since the 2015/16 season, Christian Jost has been responsible as curating moderator for the concert series "2xlisten" in the Konzerthaus Berlin. His works are published exclusively by SCHOTT-Music and have been released on CD by Deutsche Grammophon, BerlinClassics and Capricio.

RAMINTA ŠERKŠNYTĖ
(born in Kaunas, Lithuania) music is distinguished by its poetic nature, powerful emotional impact and its one-of-a-kind beauty created by Baltic mysticism and melancholy. Composer’s creative output ranges from large-scale opera, orchestral compositions to chamber works and pieces for young audience. Her De profundis for string orchestra, which maestro Gidon Kremer named “the calling card of Baltic music”, has became one of the most often performed Lithuanian compositions across the world. 
Raminta Šerkšnytė is a laureate of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (the highest artistic distinction in Lithuania, in 2008), in 2020 she was nominated for a Gramophone Classical Music Award. Her music has been performed by the Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra, conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, violinist Irvine Arditti and by many other musicians. The works have been performed in numerous festivals and concerts, including such venues as the Lincoln Center (New York), the Wiener Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2019 Deutsche Grammophon released her CD to much acclaim.

MINDAUGAS URBAITIS
(b. 1952) is a composer, professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, host (with composer Šarūnas Nakas) of the weekly radio programme Modus about new music on the Classical channel of the Lithuanian National Radio. He has composed two ballets (Acid City and Der Prozess), orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal music, as well as music for theater, film and TV. His works have been performed by orchestras, choirs and ensembles in various countries, and broadcast on radio and TV around the world. His recordings and sheet music have been released in various European countries. Awarded Best Composer of the Year for both ballet, theater and film music.