Section Editor

INDRĖ LAUCIUTĖ

A graduate of Vilnius University in Lithuanian philology, as a professional writer I was working in publishing industry for three years – as a journalist writing articles in the daily Lithuanian newspaper “Respublika” and editing books in publishing company “Tyto Alba”. I currently work in Contemporary art association in Graz, Austria, dealing with international communication projects.

My approach and credo in working comes from Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Email: lauciute@gmail.com

GIEDRĖ AVARD

My name is Giedre. I'm a part of vilnews.com team. I'll be working on cultural section, which I find very interesting, since I'm artist myself. I have been studying and working with fine arts in Lithuania, Italy and US mostly. Recently I have been focused on teaching and organizing couple creativity and cultural projects.

Email: giedre.avard@VilNews.com  

DAIVA TALIŪTĖ

Director of RIO Unlimited (a company planning and preparing events, concepts etc all over Lithuania), located in Vilnius. Lithuania, with a fantastic team of professionals, organizing events, shows, concerts, commercial and cultural events in this country.

I worked previously as an independent consultant in various TV projects, shows and events, now managing my own ‘events organizing company’. I always try to be on top of ‘what’s on, what are the latest hot news and what are the best leisure solutions of today’, I try to be everywhere and see everything myself, in order to make you as customer satisfied, and I have a nice team of professional people helping me. Give us the chance to organise also your party, your event or your professional programme in Lithuania!

Let’s not live to work, but live for life, full of joy and spiritual nourishment.

Please contact me if you need help to plan any kind of events or programme in Lithuania. I know the people, the hotels, the institutions and the artists that can help you create an unforgettable event with your friends or your team here in Lithuania!!

Web page: www.rio.lt

Email: daiva@rio.lt.

DONATAS KATKUS

Donatas Katkus (b.1942) is a famous Lithuanian violist, conductor, teacher, musicologist and a prominent personality in Lithuanian culture and art. In 1965 he graduated from the Lithuanian State Conservatoire (where he studied violin with Prof. J. Fledžinskas); in 1971 he was awarded PhD(Mus) at P. Tschaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow (quartet class with Prof. A. Grigorian and V. Gvozdecki). In 1964 – 1969 he was the Head of the Orchestra Department at Ten-Grade Balys Dvarionas Music School, was a member of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, later of the Composers’ Union Chamber Orchestra. Since 1968, he has been teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre; Professor since 1995.
In 1965 Donatas Katkus organized the Vilnius Quartet and played with it until 1994. In 1969 (together with the Vilnius Quartet) and in 1971 he attended courses in Budapest held by A. Mihály. Together with the quartet he toured Europe, Africa, America and Asia, participated in international music festivals. In 1972 he won the First Prize at the Competition for String Quartets in Liége (Belgium). Donatas Katkus has performed as a soloist, edited and was the first to perform many opuses by Lithuanian composers for viola, string quartet or chamber quartet, among them compositions by O. Balakauskas, F. Bajoras, A. Rekašius, J. Širvinskas, B.Kutavičius, B. Borisovas and A. Šenderovas. Lithuanian composers have dedicated their opuses to D. Katkus (O. Balakauskas’s sonata Do nata for viola solo, 1982). 
In 1995 – 1999 Donatas Katkus held summer master classes in Germany (Pomersfelden), later Finland and Spain. In 1994 he founded the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius Municipality, which he still leads. Since 1996 he has been constantly touring abroad with this orchestra (Estonia, Finland, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain). 
In 1995 Donatas Katkus started organizing the now traditional St. Christopher Summer Festival and is the art director of this event.
D. Katkus has recorded his unusually large and varied repertoire in 30 records and CDs together with the Vilnius Quartet, and around 20 CDs together with St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. 
Donatas Katkus is always bursting with new ideas; his activities cover various domains of culture: he has written around 300 articles on the aesthetics of music, interpretation theory, semiotics of music, the monograph Lithuanian Quartet (1971), scripts for musicals such as Vilnius Quartet (1982) and Violinist (1984, about R. Katilius); he has also starred in films, given lectures in Lithuania and abroad, participated in international conferences on aesthetics and musicology in Finland, Russia, Estonia, Germany and Poland; he has organized soirees-concerts of contemporary music. 
Donatas Katkus is a member of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (since 1996), president of the Lithuanian – Irish Society (since1998), vice president of SOS Kindersdorf, Lithuanian Society (since 1999), Representative of Lithuania in Television without Frontiers, a EU committee in Strasbourg (since 2001). He is also one of few performers – A member of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union. 
For his commitment to Lithuanian culture Donatas Katkus was twice honoured with the National Prize of the Republic of Lithuania: in 1979 (as a member of the Vilnius Quartet) and in 2001.