Ciurlionio menu mokykla by Augustas Didzgalvis

National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art () was founded in 1945 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is named after the famous Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis since 1965. It is the only such school in Lithuania, spanning the entire 12-year learning cycle. After the twelfth grade, having successfully passed final examinations in general and art subjects, pupils receive a school certificate. Learning is free of charge for Lithuanian pupils, but not for foreigners. Gifted children above 6–7 years old are allowed to join the school if their qualities match certain criteria of the correspondent specialty. The school also organizes training courses and seminars for students abroad.

Departments

There are three main departments in the school: Music, Fine Arts and Ballet. As of 2006, the staff consists of 46 general education, 25 art, 88 music and 25 ballet teachers.

Music Department

The Music Department gives tuition in

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

forte,

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

and other instruments, choral

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

and

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

. It also hosts a junior string orchestra.

Fine Arts Department

The Fine Arts Department offers the following four subjects:

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

. In addition to that, all the pupils study professional principles of

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

, theoretical background,

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

and other art disciplines. Young artists have had their works exhibited in Japan, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Austria, Sweden,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the United States.

Ballet Department

The Ballet Department offers courses in classical,

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

, duet and

historical dance Historical dance (or early dance) is a term covering a wide variety of Western European-based dance types from the past as they are danced in the present. Today historical dances are danced as performance, for pleasure at themed balls or dance cl ...

, artistry, ballet and theatre history, as well as other art subjects. Training of a ballet artist is divided into three stages – early artistic training (grades 1–4), specialized artist training with the first professional skills (grades 5–8) and a two-level professional training comprising grades 9–10 and grades 11–12. It is cited as one of the finest in the Baltic. Between 1986 and 2001 the department was an independent Vilnius Ballet School.

Eglė Špokaitė Eglė Špokaitė (born 1971 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian ballet dancer, most notably a Principal Ballerina for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (1989–2011) and the only ballet dancer on the List of Lithuanians, List of Famous Li ...

graduated here in 1989 and Jolanta Valeikaitė is also amongst its notable alumni.

Notable students

Many famous Lithuanian artists got their education at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art, including: ;Musicians *

Valentinas Antanavičius Valentinas Antanavičius (2 May 1936 – 20 September 2024) was a Lithuanian painter. In 1992 he won a Lithuanian national arts award. Biography In 1962 he graduated from the Lithuanian Institute of Art. From 1962 he taught at the M. K. Čiurli ...

* Gediminas Gelgotas *

Petras Geniušas Petras Geniušas (born 1961 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian classical pianist. During his career he has worked with composers Alfred Schnittke, Bronius Kutavičius, Osvaldas Balakauskas and Leonid Desyatnikov, some of whom have dedicated several o ...

, pianist *

David Geringas David Geringas (; born 29 July 1946 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian cello, cellist and conducting, conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryto ...

, cellist *

Asmik Grigorian Asmik Grigorian (born 12 May 1981 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian operatic soprano of Armenian ancestry. Life and career In 1999, Asmik Grigorian graduated from National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art in Vilnius. She studied music at the Lithuani ...

(b. 1981), soprano * Vytautas Janulionis *

Gintaras Januševičius Gintaras Januševičius (born 16 January 1985) is a Lithuanian pianist, music educator, event producer, radio presenter, and philanthropist. He is renowned for narrative recitals and original interpretations; particularly that of Rachmaninoff, ...

* Nomeda Kazlaus (b. 1974), soprano * Simonas Pinkoraitis *

Mantas Razgaitis Mantas is a Lithuanian given name. People with the name include: * Mantas Adomėnas (born 1972), philosopher * Mantas Armalis (born 1992), professional ice hockey goaltender * Mantas Dilys (born 1984), triple jumper * Mantas Fridrikas (born 1988) ...

Gintaras Rinkevičius Gintaras Rinkevičius (born February 20, 1960) is a Lithuanian people, Lithuanian conductor, who was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts in 1994. In 1989 he founded the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. Life and career R ...

, conductor *

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (born Mirga Gražinytė, 29 August 1986 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian conductor. She was the musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Biography Early years and education Gražinytė-Tyla was b ...

, conductor *

Mūza Rubackytė Mūza Rubackytė (born May 19, 1959) is a Lithuanian pianist, currently residing in Vilnius, Paris and Geneva. Rubackytė has been awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Lithuanian Muzes, and has been named as the National Arti ...

, pianist ;Ballet dancers * Anželika Cholina *

Jurgita Dronina Jurgita Dronina (born 27 March 1986) is a Lithuanian ballet dancer. Until 2024, she was a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, having previously danced with Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and English National Ballet. ...

* Martynas Rimeikis * Edvinas Jakonis * Neli Beliakaitė * OLga Konošenko * Eligijus Butkus ;Visual artists *

Audronė Vaupšienė Audra Vau (birth name Audronė Vaupšienė) is a Lithuanian transdisciplinarity artist born in 1970 in Vilnius, Lithuania. She lives and works mostly in Vilnius, Lithuania and London. Audra Vau was born in 1970 in Lithuania and studied in Nation ...

Laura Andrijauskaite Laura may refer to: People and fictional characters * Laura (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters with the name * Laura, muse of Petrarch's poetry * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cno ...

* Skaistė Verdingytė.

International relations

The School closely cooperates with many schools of similar type; among them are

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

(USA),

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

Viernheim Viernheim () is a midsize industrial town on Mannheim's outskirts and is found in the Rhine Neckar Area, Rhine Neckar agglomeration and economic area. It is the second biggest town in Kreis Bergstraße, Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany. Since ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

and Vasario 16-osios (Germany),

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

and

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

(

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). The school belongs to the International Association of Musical Schools. Every year the schoolchildren take part in a number of international competitions.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:National M. K. Ciurlionis School Of Art Ciurlionis Art schools in Lithuania Educational institutions established in 1945 Secondary schools in Lithuania 1945 establishments in the Soviet Union