Rūta Vitkauskaitė is a classical composer with strong interest in collaborative music creation and inter-disciplinary projects. Ruta is holding PhD in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and was recently on the Royal Philharmonic Society composers’ scheme. Her ensemble and orchestral compositions have been awarded numerous prizes and performed in festivals including Gaudeamus, Operadagen (NL), Apeldoorn, Sound (UK), Nordbeg, Halland (SE), Gaida, NOA (LT), Q-O2 (BE), SUSA (DK), broadcasted on Lithuanian National TV, LRT Classic, BBC Radio 3, Deutschlandradio Kultur. Her collaborative electro-acoustic opera for blind-folded audience, Confessions (Spatial Opera Company), was awarded Golden Stage Cross and toured across Lithuania, Sweden and EU with 47 shows to date. As a cross-disciplinary artist, she has presented her works at SERDE residency, Latvia (Dizzy Echoes – a sound and wine installation at Aizpute Winery), Q-O2, Brussels (cross-disciplinary research exploring aronia berry), Ljudkonstgalleriet , Sweden (audiovisual explorations of dreaming, string theory, and shock).

Ruta is also active initiator of experimental music projects: she was director of Druskomanija festival and workshop series the Process in Lithuania for several years, facilitator of New Music Incubator in Nordic and Baltic countries and across EU, facilitator and tutor at ComposersPlus summer academy in Lithuania, and currently – initiator of CoMA, Contemporary Music for All, Glasgow branch.

Image provided by the artist, photography by Ilmė Vyšniauskaitė.