Rita Mačiliūnaitė graduated from Kaunas J. Naujalis Gymnasium of Music in 2004 and enrolled at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she received her Bachelor's degree in 2008 and Master's degree in 2010. In 2007 she studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague under the ERASMUS exchange programme. During her studies, the composer undertook internships in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland and Latvia. In 2012, she obtained a teaching qualification at the Music Training Centre. In 2017, after defending her thesis "Ways of composing musical narration in post-dramatic theatre", she was awarded a Doctor of Arts degree.
She has created over 40 acoustic and electroacoustic compositions, numerous interdisciplinary projects, performances, installations, seven operas, and written music for 30 theatre and dance performances. Performances featuring Mačiliūnaitė's music are included in the repertoire of major Lithuanian theatres (the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre, the Klaipėda State Musical Theatre, the Klaipėda Drama Theatre, the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, the Puppet Theatre, and the Dansema Dance Theatre). Her music has been performed at the most prominent Lithuanian and foreign festivals and concerts ("Iš arti", "Kūrybinis impulsas", "Puppet Metamorfozės" (Poland), "Music in Space", "Druskomanija", "Balleti-Gala" (Estonia), "Gaida", International Accordion Festival, "UNIDRAM (Germany), Bielsko-Biala (Poland), Brücken-Festival (Germany), World Music Days (Poland), Sirens, Let There Be Night, Permainu Musica, Plartforma, New music incubator (Latvia), New Opera Action, etc. ). Since 2014 she has been working as the head of the music department at the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre, in the same year she was awarded a scholarship from the Lithuanian Science Council for her academic achievements.
Awards / distinctions:
2015 Golden Stage Cross for the creative team of the play "The Sandman" (Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Renata Valčik, Sigita Mikalauskaitė).
