Pianist Albina Šikšniūtė graduated from the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts (in the class of professor Liucija Drąsutienė) and from the Peter Tchaikovsky Conservatory and postgraduate school in Moscow (under professor Viktor Nosov). She is a laureate of international piano competitions in the Czech Republic (1977), France (1990) and chamber ensemble competitions in Austria (2002). As a soloist and a participant in chamber ensembles, A. Šikšniūtė has performed in Latvia, Russia, Slovenia, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Japan. She has performed at international festivals such as the "Ost – West Musikfest" (Austria), "Korneuburger Musiksommer" (Austria), "Liublianos vasaros festivalis" (Slovenia), "Sacrum non profanum Trezęsacz 2009" (Poland), the concert of Baltic countries' music educators festival in Riga (Latvia), and the contemporary music festival "Gaida" (Lithuania). The pianist has performed with the Lithuanian, Prague, Moscow, Alma Ata chamber orchestras, and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. In 1995, she recorded a compact disc of three J.S. Bach keyboard concertos with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra led by professor S. Sondeckis. Since 1997, A. Šikšniūtė has been a member of the piano trio "Kaskados". She balances her performance career with teaching at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (in 2004, she was awarded the title of docent at LMTA). She has mentored numerous laureates of international competitions and is herself invited to participate in the evaluation commissions of national and international competitions. Since 1991, she has been taking part in the annual "Ost – West Musikfest" festival in Austria and leads piano mastery courses for youth in Krems an der Donau and Sankt Pelten. At this festival, the pianist has performed world premieres of works by contemporary Austrian composers.