Vykintas Baltakas (b. 1972) is a composer and conductor who was born and bred in Vilnius. He studied composition under Wolfgang Rihm and conducting under Andreas Weiss at Karlsruhe University of Music, and later perfected his skills under the composer Peter Eötvös. Baltakas’ curiosity and excellent education helped him to establish himself rapidly in the influential contemporary music world, and his compositions soon began to be played at prestigious new music forums. The composer won the international Claudio Abbado Prize for composition and the Siemens Foundation Award. In 2009, having already gained experience and won acclaim, Baltakas decided to invigorate the processes of the dissemination of contemporary music in Lithuania, and connected Lithuanian music performers interested in contemporary music with the Lietuvos ansamblių tinklas (Network of Lithuanian Ensembles, LAT). Collaborating as part of this association are the Chordos string quartet, the Kaskados piano trio, the Kristupas woodwind quintet, the Synaesthesis ensemble, the accordionist Raimondas Sviackevičius, the pianist Rima Chačaturian, the composer and vocalist Rita Mačiliūnaitė, and others. Baltakas organises the activities of the network in two directions: disseminating works by Lithuanian composers in Lithuania and abroad, and introducing the most prominent contemporary music artists in Lithuania. They have organised presentations of work by composers such as Gerhard Stäbler, Bronius Kutavičius, Luciano Berio, Wolfgang Rihm, Matthias Pintscher, John Woolrich, Philip Cashian, Julius Juzeliūnas and Osvaldas Balakauskas, as well as Ukrainian and Egyptian composers, in Lithuania and abroad.

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