UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES PROJECT THE OSCILLATTION ORCHESTRA

UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES PROJECT THE OSCILLATTION ORCHESTRA

 (leader Vytis Puronas)

Vytis Puronas – live electronics

Paulina Skrabytė – voc

Simonas Krukonis – voc

Kazimieras Krulikovskis – keyb

Adomas Silevičius – g

Vainius Indriūnas – bg

Birštonas Jazz festival is hardly imaginable without the projects of the University of Applied Sciences. For many years they were masterminded by maestro Vladimir Chekasin, at the time the University’s faculty member. The projects involved not only his own students, but also students of other art fields and guests from various schools outside Lithuania. His gigantic collective improvisations featured a variety of music styles and art forms. Brimming with the unrestrained imagination of the Teacher these projects ushered many a talent to jazz scene. Many of them have become the pride of Lithuanian jazz.

This year’s project, for which talented students of the Department of Rhythmic Music were brought together by its teacher, sound artist V. Puronas, has also emerged in improvisation. But now students will enter a completely different world of music. V. Puronas, a virtuoso of live electronics, described his composition specially written for the festival as a game with minimalist ornaments.

“We are not radicals that break traditions – we look with respect to the legacy of Birštonas Jazz and even want to rely on it in our music,” the project creator explained.

In preparation for the premiere of his work, Vytis listened to many recordings of the festival, investigated its past. We will now hear what he has come to see in it.

Sound director, composer and sound artist Vytis Puronas studied the design at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Vilnius TECH University and graduated with honours from the University of the Arts London. Since 2012, he has been teaching at the Department of Film and Television of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre where he is an associate professor.

During almost two decades-long sound master career in Lithuania and the United Kingdom, Puronas has worked on more than fifty films of various genres, restored an anthology of Lithuanian documentary, and created sound designs for interactive and virtual reality projects. His filmography includes such well-known films by Lithuanian directors as Nova Lituania, Išgyventi vasarą (Summer Survivors), Meistras ir Tatjana (Master and Tatyana), Šventasis (The Saint), Angelų takais (Trails of Angels).

In 2020, Puronas was nominated for the Silver Crane award for the best work as a sound director in the film Oleg directed by the Latvian Juris Kursietis. The artist composes and performs music on an analogue modular synthesizer, participates in festivals.

Puronas’ music is documented in the vinyl Obsession (2010) released on Partyzanai label and in the experimental electronic pop project Bleach Cult’s album Summertime Whiteout released in digital and vinyl formats (2020) on Partyzanai Pop label.

Paulina Skrabytė has been embracing success while performing on the vocal scene since she was a child. In 2011, she represented Lithuania at the Children’s Eurovision Song Contest, and also reached the semi-finals in the TV project Lietuvos Balsas (The Voice of Lithuania). For her musical achievements Paulina received letter of merit from the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.

For the last two years, Paulina has been heard not only singing, but also conducting radio shows on the Radiocentras – she is one of the youngest radio presenters in Lithuania.

Simonas Krukonis has also made his act as a vocalist of exceptional abilities. He drew attention to himself in the Garage competition for young music groups, where he repeatedly triumphed with John’s Shower Band. This group also won laurels at Novus Baltic Music Incubator. Simonas’ voice is heard on John’s Shower Band’s two albums.

Kazimieras Krulikovskis graduated from the Vilnius Conservatoire as an organist. Currently, he studies piano at the University of Applied Sciences, works for Sonoros Vilnius City Choir. In addition, the keyboardist is a member of Juzt and John’s Shower Band. Recently, both groups claimed first prizes in a competition for young Baltic groups; Juzt was awarded Grand Prix in Vilnius Jazz Young Power competition in 2020.

Guitarist Adomas Silevičius tends to ally professionally with his schoolmates and participates in various projects with them.

Vainius Indriūnas, a winner of various music competitions, studies at the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies of the University of Applied Sciences. He was recognized as the best in the bass guitar category in Gitarų šėlsmas (Guitar Frenzy) competition and as the best instrumentalist in Vilnius Jazz Young Power competition in 2020, where he also triumphed with group Juzt.

The bassist is a founder of John’s Shower Band, collaborates with FreeFinga, Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė, Karolis Šarkus, Artūras Daunys, Tuomas J. Räsänen, Mindaugas Ancevičius, Jonas Filmanavičius and other young jazzmen.