Graduates of the Department of Music
FACES OF LITHUANIAN CULTURE
Aušra Marija Banaitytė - a 1961 graduate of the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, majoring in piano, is an excellent pianist, concertmaster, and piano teacher.
The pianist was born in the family of actress and director Kazimieras Kymantaitė and music teacher, choirmaster, cultural figure Juoz Banaitis. Parents gave the girl to study music, which became the meaning and foundation of her life. Today, she is very grateful to her parents for giving her the opportunity to learn about music.
Aušra studied at the school with legendary pedagogues: Dveira Elinienė (student of Hausen Herbeck), Jakov Ginzburg (student of Alexander Goldenweizer, graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and teacher) and Mariam Azizbekova (graduate of Samuil Feinberg's class of the Moscow Conservatory). and LMTA. She was taught chamber ensemble at school by maestro Saulius Sondeckis.
The inclination to work as a concertmaster appeared early - A. Banaitytė started working as an accompanist from the second year of her studies. The list of her former workplaces includes LMTA, National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, Juoz Tallat-Kelpša Conservatory. She still works at Bali Dvarion's ten-year music school. Aušra's priority area is partnership with violinists. She is an unparalleled professional in the repertoire of these instruments. The pianist was entrusted to accompany the students and pupils of the classes of such famous artists as professors Viktoras Radovičius, Eugenijus Paulauskas, Raimondas Butvila, Ingrida Armonaitė. It is impossible to list and count the concerts, exams, festivals, competitions she accompanied as a concertmaster pianist. This irreplaceable concertmaster played a colossal role in helping to create the musical visions of many young musicians starting their musical careers.
The pianist has a sincere and consistent creative collaboration with many of the most famous Lithuanian performers, who have already left us and who have left us today - she was and is a constant partner in their concerts, festivals, competitions, CDs, audio and video recordings. Aušra Banaitytė's call received favorable reviews from music critics and the entire musical audience. Her sensitive accompaniment impresses with high professionalism - variety of sound and color palette, impeccable technique, tasteful rendering of musical styles. Lithuanian performers speak with great respect and warmth about Aušra's innate talent, imagination, ability to cover the spheres of the visual and musical form of the work, and the artistry with which the pianist helps her partners reveal the author's text and their individual artistic ideas, and inspires and supports them on the concert stage.
With her husband, pianist Jurgis Bialobžeskis, also a long-time school pedagogue, A. Banaitytė raised two sons: Andrii, a theater and film actor, and Martynas, a professional composer, also a graduate of the Čiurlionis School of Arts, they continue the theatrical and musical traditions of the pianist's family. Many young concertmasters learned and are learning from this sensitive musician and interesting, unique, modest personality with a unique sense of humor, not only the art of musical partnership, but also life wisdom and human communication. We need to enjoy the mutual benefits - young colleagues become more mature, and Aušra Banaitytė, by sharing her experience, becomes younger.
