Gintaras Rinkevičius (born February 20,1960) is a Lithuanian conductor, who was awarded the

Lithuanian National Prize The Lithuanian National Prize ( lt, Nacionalinė kultūros ir meno premija), established in 1989, is an award granted for achievements in culture and the arts. It has been awarded annually in six categories since 2006 (between 1989 and 2006 there w ...

for Culture and Arts in 1994. In 1989 he founded the

Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra ( lt, Lietuvos valstybinis simfoninis orkestras or LVSO) is one of Lithuania's two national orchestras, founded in 1988. The other, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO, Lietuvos nacionalinis sim ...

Life and career

Rinkevičius graduated from Lithuania's M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, from the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

in 1983, and from

Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

in 1986. In 1985 he won the

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

Fund International Competition for Conductors in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Between 1996 and 2003, he served as the

Latvian National Opera The Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) is an opera house and opera company at Aspazijas boulevard 3 in Riga. Its repertoire includes performances of opera and ballet presented during the season which lasts from mid-September to the end of Ma ...

’s artistic director and chief conductor; he was also chief conductor at the

Malmö Opera and Music Theatre Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

from 2002 to 2005. Among the symphony orchestras he has conducted are the

Berliner Symphoniker The Berliner Symphoniker (''Berlin Symphony Orchestra'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. History The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as ''Symphonisches Orchester Berlin'', under the auspices of ...

, the

Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

, the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the

Russian National Orchestra The Russian National Orchestra (russian: Российский национальный оркестр) was founded in Moscow in 1990 by pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Apostolic Palace, Va ...

, and the Russian State Symphony. He has conducted performances in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and the

Champs Elysées Champs may refer to: Music * The Champs, a U.S. instrumental music group * Champs (Brazilian band), a Brazilian boy band * Champs (British band), a British folk- and indie rock-influenced band * The Fucking Champs, a U.S. progressive heavy metal ...

Theatre in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, as well as in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. He has been a featured conductor at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

in Moscow since 2003. Rinkevičius continues to work in Lithuania, staging operas at the

Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (LNOBT) ( lt, Lietuvos nacionalinis operos ir baleto teatras) is an opera house and ballet theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the largest theatre of the country, committed to organising the creatio ...

, serving as chief conductor and artistic director of the

, and as a professor at the

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania, is a state-supported conservatory that trains students in music, theatre, and multimedia arts. History Composer Juozas Naujalis founded a music school in 1919 in Kaunas. This ...

. He has used these opportunities to introduce a number of original compositions by Lithuanian composers, including ''A Letter to all the Congregation'' by Algirdas Martinaitis and ''Agnus Dei'' by

Feliksas Bajoras Feliksas is a Lithuanian male given name, which is derived from the Latin name Felix, meaning "lucky".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Felix" Retrieved on 23 January 2016. * Feliksas Daukantas (1915–1995), Lithuanian artist * Feliksas Jakubauskas ...

. Since September 2007 Gintaras Rinkevičius is also an artistic director and principal conductor of the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra.

Awards and prizes

* Winner, Fifth Confederate Conductors' Competition in Moscow (1983) * Laureate, international competition In Memoriam

János Ferencsik János Ferencsik (18 January 190712 June 1984) was a Hungarian conductor. Ferencsik was born in Budapest; he actively played music even as a very young boy. He took violin lessons and taught himself to play the organ. He studied at the Nati ...

in Budapest (1986) *

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

, Fourth Class (1997) * Grand Latvian Music Award (1997 and 2000) * Latvian

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra", meaning "Thr ...

* Chevalier of the

Royal Norwegian Order of Merit The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norwegian: ''Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden'' (Bokmål) or ''Den Kongelege Norske Fortenesteordenen'' (Nynorsk)) was instituted by King Olav V in 1985. It is awarded to foreigners, Norwegian citizens livin ...

* commander of the Portuguese Order of Merit

References

External links

Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved September 7, 2007.

Vilnius - European Capital of Culture in 2009.

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos kultūros ministerija) is a governmental body of the Republic of Lithuania. Its mission is to formulate and implement state cultural policies supporting professional ...

. Retrieved September 7, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinkevicius, Gintaras Lithuanian conductors (music) Recipients of the Lithuanian National Prize Officer's Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas 1960 births Living people Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre faculty Musicians from Vilnius 20th-century conductors (music) 21st-century conductors (music)