Baroque Music Ensemble ‘Chiaroscuro’: ‘I’m dying for you and you don’t know it’

Rūta Vox (Vosyliūtė) is a singer of baroque music, winner of the international competitions Fatima Terzo (Vicenza, 2011 – first prize), Francesco Provenzale (Naples, 2009 – second prize). She graduated with honours in Renaissance and Baroque singing from the A.Pedrollo Conservatory in Vicenza, where she studied with Prof. Patrizia Vaccari and Gloria Banditelli. She graduated in singing from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in the class of Prof. Sigute Stonytė (2005-2009), and in 2018 she received her Doctor of Arts degree from the same institution. She performs at various venues and early music festivals throughout Europe, collaborating with renowned conductors such as Claudio Cavina, Sigiswald Kuijken, Paolo Faldi, Marco Mencoboni, Walter Testolin, Wolfgang Katschner.

In collaboration with Artis Opera, she created the role of Bradamante in Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso (2019); Elena in M. Vitale’s revival of Elena’s Abduction (2018). “In the projects of the Baroque Opera Theatre, she created the role of Ina in Handel’s Semele (2017); the role of Abra in Vivaldi’s oratorio Judith’s Triumph (2014); the role of Magdalena in Handel’s oratorio The Resurrection (2014). “At the Banchetto musicale inter-departmental early music festival she performed the parts of Music and Hope in Monteverdi’s Orfeo (2015).

Ieva Baublytė studied Renaissance and Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Institute of Early Music of the Basel Academy of Music, where she graduated with a Master’s degree in long flute in the class of Professor Kathrin Bopp. She has performed with the ensemble Canto fiorito, the consort Brevis, the Baroque Theatre Orchestra and other artists, and has participated in the recording of CDs. She actively participates in the musical educational activities of the Palace of the Grand Dukes Museum, organises early music seminars and the educational St. He also participates in the activities of the Museum of Music and the St. Cecilia Early Music Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with Prof. P. Memelsdorf, P. Hamon, M. Motomura and improvisation courses with Jean Tubery. He studied the Gothic harp with M. Fujimura and H. Rosenzweig.

Saulius S. Lipčius is a performer, pedagogue, associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. He is the fourth generation musician in his family. He grew up in a musical environment and became interested in guitar at the age of 12. In 2008 he graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre with a Master’s degree (class of associate professor Julius Kurauskas). Currently, he plays not only classical and baroque guitar, but also the unique in Lithuania lute “Liuto forte”.

The guitarist participates in various concert projects and is a member of different ensembles. In 2004, together with the younger generation of guitarists, he founded the Baltic Guitar Quartet, which a few years later became known as the leading guitar ensemble in the Baltic States. Regularly invited to the most important Lithuanian festivals and concert halls, the quartet also performs intensively abroad, having visited more than 25 countries and prestigious concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Palace in Warsaw, the Southbank Centre in London, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, and others. The ensemble has released three CDs, Live, Dancing with guitar and Tradición Nuevo. Saul’s first solo CD “Guitar Temptations” was released in 2011. Since 2017, he has been participating in various early music ensembles and projects, and has performed at festivals such as “Baroko pavasaris/Baroque Spring” Biržuose, Marco Scacchi and Banchetto Musicale.

Since 2004 Saulius has also been an active guitar teacher – his students are laureates of republican and international competitions, and the guitarist himself is regularly invited to be a jury member of various international competitions. Saulius is an associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, teaching classical guitar and chamber ensemble since 2008.

Vilimas Norkūnas became interested in early music in 2002 in Salzburg (Austria), while studying concert organ and sacred music at the Mozarteum University (under Prof. Heribert Metzger). Here he also began to study the following historical instruments: harpsichord, clavichord, hammerklavier and basso continuo. From 2008 he continued his studies at the Graz University of the Arts, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Sacred Music and Organ in 2011 (in the organ class of Prof. Ulrich Walther), and a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting in 2012 (in the class of Prof. Johannes Prinz). In 2014 he graduated from the Graz University of the Arts with a diploma in Early Music-Klavesin with honors in the class of Prof. Michael Hell.

Norkūnas has performed with the Styrian Baroque Orchestra “Neue Hofkapelle Graz” (Austria), St. He has also performed with the choirs Jauna muzika, Brevis, Aukuras and various ensembles. He has also given a number of concerts with baroque violin virtuoso Ula Kinderyte (USA) and baroque violinist Vera Otasek (Austria). Vilimas is a co-founder and member of the Lithuanian Early Music Ensemble Chiaroscuro and the international ensemble Cordaria. These ensembles have performed several times at the International Banchetto Musicale Festival and the Mark Skakis Festival, and have toured Latvia at the Vivat Curlandia and Riga Early Music Festivals. In 2018-9 he presented the harpsichord solo programme Hortus musicus in Lithuania and Latvia and in 2019 he toured Lithuania, Italy and Austria with the organ recital Chroma.