Ruta Vitkauskaite: Adopt a Composer

At the age of 6 Ruta Vitkauskaite got a place at the prestigious National M.K. Curlionis Arts School in Vilnius, Lithuania, where she began playing the violin and piano and studying music theory. From 15-18 she specialised in musicology and composition, and at 18 won a place to study in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she received a comprehensive musical education in composition, performance, music history and music pedagogy. Ruta was awarded her Masters degree from the Academy in 2009, and she now is studying for a PhD in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Ruta is active as a composer, performer and organiser of concerts and festivals. She won the prize in the 2008 Apeldoorn workshop for young composers; in 2010 she won the prize for the Best Composition by a Young Lithuanian Composer. Ruta has performed as a violinist, pianist and performance artist in venues across Europe, including Vilnius, Vienna, Dresden, London, Dartington and at the Aldeburgh Festival. From 2007 Ruta was the artistic director of Lithuania’s major contemporary music festival, Druskomanija.