Until 1939 attended Klaipėda Vytautas the Great High School, sang in the choir, played viola and tuba in the brass band. In high school, he was famous as a great gymnast, football player, and basketball player. in 1937 with KSS Klaipėda, the team became the Lithuanian football champion in 1938. played in the Lithuanian national team.
in 1940 entered and graduated from the Kaunas Military School with the rank of lieutenant. Here he began to compose music, marching songs. 1941-1945 Kretinga high school teacher. in 1948 August 14 married Adele Jasinskaite. 1948-1950 studied at the LSSR Conservatory (Antanas Račiūnas class), taught theoretical disciplines at the Juoz Gruodis Music School. in 1953 He completed postgraduate studies at the Leningrad Conservatory.
Since 1953 taught at the LSSR Conservatory, 1960-1984. Head of the Department of Composition, 1969. professor. The most famous students - Julius Andrejevas, Vidmantas Bartulis, Algimantas Bražinskas, Jonas Domarkas, Benjamin Gorbulskis, Giedrius Kuprevičius, Faustas Latėnas, Tomas Leiburas, Vakaris Laurynas Lopas, Algirdas Martinaitis, Vaclovas Paketūras, Rimvydas Racevičius, Gintaras Samson, Anatolijus Šenderovas, Juozas Širvinskas, Jonas Tamulionis, Audronė Žigaitytė and others
