Percussion de Strassbourg
3.3.2023 Mannheim, Live recording 

Spicules are microscopic structures of hard crystal material found in sponges. They have fantastic shapes unique to the different species of each sponge.
This is a perfect metaphor for the musical structure of my piece: a continuous change of the melodic and rhythmical shapes, an ongoing morphing process from one micro element in to another, which results in a musical labyrinth.

Spicules (2023) for 4 marimbas (full recording)

Vykintas Baltakas, Conductor / Composer

Born in Vilnius in 1972, Vykintas Baltakas already caught attention as a musician and leader of two vocal ensembles, as well as a competition award winner, before studying composition with Wolfgang Rihm and conducting with Andreas Weiss in Karlsruhe from 1993 to 1997. He subsequently studied in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur and took a one year course at IRCAM.
Conductors and composers make up two sides of the coin for the busiest of musicians. “One composes through playing, one plays through composing,“ he says – an attitude shared by Peter Eötvös who was his teacher between 1994 and 1997.
In the meantime he is a regular guest at festivals and with ensembles throughout Europe. Institutions that have commissioned works by Baltakas include the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Biennale, the Wiener Festwochen/Klangforum Wien, the Ensemble Modern and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/musica viva.
Vykintas Baltakas has in recent years conducted renowned orchestras such as the RSO and DSO Berlin, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the WDR Symphony Orchestra as well as ensembles including Ensemble Resonanz, the Ensemble Modern and Scharoun Ensemble. He has also collaborated with composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georg Friedrich Haas and Dieter Schnebel. In 2009 he founded the Lithuanian Ensemble Network (LEN) of which he is the driving force.
Vykintas Baltakas’ works have been awarded with prizes such as the International Claudio Abbado Composition Prize (2003) and the Siemens Advancement Award (2007). CD recordings of his compositions were recently made by the Ensemble musikFabrik Cologne and the Ensemble Modern.  
Currently V.Baltakas is professor for composition at the conservatories in Maastricht and Brussels. From September 2016 he will lead the master program for performance of contemporary music at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

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