ARTŪRAS  ANUSAUSKAS  JAZZ TRIO & MARIJA GRABŠTAITĖ AND  RŪTA JAKULYTĖ 

Artūras Anusauskas – p

Vytis Nivinskas – db

Darius Rudis – dr

Marija Grabštaitė – voc

Rūta Jakulytė – voc

Presumably the connoisseurs of Artūras Anusauskas have hard time remembering when they heard him playing in a trio. Recently he has mainly appeared as a soloist or in duo.

Maestro decided to get back to his former passion of trio line-up. In a programme of his original compositions and jazz standards he teams-up with promising vocalists Marija Grabštaitė and Rūta Jakulytė, the students of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

One of the foremost Lithuanian jazz pianists Artūras Anusauskas has pursued his career for more than three decades.    

While still a student at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Anusauskas repeatedly became a winner of the Piano Improvisation Competition at the LAMT. In 1997, he won the Leipzig International Improvisation Competition, where he earned a special prize for polyphonic improvisation.

He made his debut as a leader of a jazz group in 1990, and in 1994 captured Grand Prix in Birštonas Jazz with his Quintet.

Moreover, he has made yet another imprint on Lithuania’s jazz life with his Quartet. The ensemble has performed on Lithuania’s main stages and jazz festivals, appeared in Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), performed in other countries, and recorded two CD’s. In 2004, at the Brodvėjus Club nominations the ensemble was voted the Jazz Group of the Year.

The multifaceted musician as he is Anusauskas also performs with academic music collectives. He has appeared with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas Symphony Orchestra and LAMT Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and choirs Ąžuoliukas and Jauna muzika. He appeared as an improviser in the production of Eight Women of Kurt Weil at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, and as a taper in silent film festivals.

Anusauskas composed music for the opera The Tree of Fairy Tales, the feature film Perpetuum Mobile (2012) and was one of the composers of soundtrack for the feature film Narcissus.

The pianist’s discography amounts to 29 CD’s, five of which – solo. He has collaborated with renowned international and Lithuanian jazz masters such as Steve Houghton (USA), Jimmi Roger Pedersen  (Denmark), Jeff Cascaro (Germany), Anne Kierulf (Denmark), Marco Tamburini (Italy), Rusty Jones (USA), Mauro Campobasso, Daniele Scannapieco, Gaetano Partipilo (Italy), Vytautas Labutis, Vladimir Chekasin, Neda Malūnavičiūtė, Alexander Fedotov and Eugenijus Kanevičius.

Anusauskas gave concerts in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Romania, Moldova, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Bulgaria and Czech Republic among other European countries as well as in USA and China.

Since 1989, the pianist has taught jazz improvisation for piano and jazz majors at the LAMT, where he is a Professor and the head of the Jazz Department. He has shared his expertise with Romanian, Moldavian, Finnish, German and Italian younger colleagues.

In 2005, the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union awarded Anusauskas with Gold Disc.

Double bassist Vytis Nivinskas captivates his aficionados with his musical maturity, rich timbre and expression, eloquent articulation and melodiousness.

Fascinated with jazz Vytis swapped philosophy studies at the Vilnius University for the double bass. He graduated from the Vilnius Conservatoire, earned Bachelor Degree from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT), and continued his education at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music (Denmark) and DePaul University in Chicago (USA).

The double bassist has played jazz, rock, academic and contemporary music in Lithuania and abroad since he was a student.

While living in the USA (2001-2005) Nivinskas played with many musicians from Chicago and New York City, together with saxophonist Rimvydas Paulikas co-founded the Baltic Asteroids band in Chicago.

Recently the double bassist has mainly worked with jazz groups Saga, Riot, Baisios stygos,  CinAmono, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė and Andrej Polevikov’s projects, Pieno Lazeriai alternative music group, collaborated with Vladimir Tarasov, Petras Vyšniauskas, Dalius Naujokaitis, Arūnas Šlaustas,  composer Linas Rimša, Jauna Muzika choir and Baltic Guitar Quartet,  pop-singer and  actress Jurga Šeduikytė, dancer Lora Juodkaitė,  other theatre personalities (theatre productions Uždaras vakaras and Geras žmogus iš Sezuano).

Nivinskas has appeared in jazz festivals and various other events in Denmark, Germany, the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Luxembourg among other countries. He teaches at the Vilnius College of Higher Education and the LAMT. In addition to his personal projects, he has been playing solo.

Darius Rudis has studied percussion at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre as well as Groningen Conservatoire (the Netherlands); he also took private composition lessons. The drummer can be heard in most various music styles from reggae, flamenco, gospel, pop, Brazilian music to modern jazz and club music.

Rudis has collaborated with the most creative Lithuanian jazz representatives including Vladimir Tarasov, Dainius Pulauskas, Vytautas Labutis, Leonid Shinkarenko, Arūnas Šlaustas, Egidijus Buožis, Jan Maksimovich, Kęstutis Vaiginis, Baiba Skurstene, Andrej Polevikov and Giedrė Kilčiauskienė. He shared the stage with Happyendless, Rojaus tūzai, Skamp, Pieno lazeriai, Jazzu and Leon Somov, and numerous Lithuanian pop music celebrities.

The drummer took part in international projects with Germans Bernd Homann, Wolfgang Lackerschmid and Hendrik Meurkens, Americans Philip Hamilton, Chielli Minucci, Frank Marocco, Victor Mendoza, Austin Becker, Niki Haris, Gene Perla and Sheila Charles, Bulgarian Anatoly Vapirov, Finn Aleksi Tuomarila as well as Dutch, Turkish, Estonian, Brazilian, Argentinean and South African improvisers.

He appeared in jazz festivals in Switzerland, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Belgium, Moldova, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain among other countries.

Marija Grabštaitė is a second-year student in the Jazz Department of the LAMT. She made a successful appearance in Jazz Voices international jazz vocal competition and Džiazo fontanas (Jazz Fountain) festival.

Anusauskas already introduced this owner of an exceptional voice in joined concerts in Piano.lt concert hall, at the Lithuanian Composers’ Union and festival Miške (In the Forest).

Rūta Jakulytė is a fourth-year student at the Jazz Department of the LAMT. Previously she studied choral singing in Balys Dvarionas Music School. The singer furthered her education in Luxembourg, where she appeared in the lead roles in the school’s musicals. Success in this genre encouraged her to study the art of musical in the UK. Having earned Bachelor Degree she decided to return to Lithuania.

Last December the singer and Anusauskas gave a substantial concert n Luxembourg.