VII International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists
14-22 February 2025, Vilnius

Rūta Lipinaitytė

| Lithuania

A violin professor, since 2015 she has been working as a head of the String Department at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, as well as an expert teacher in M. K. Čiurlionis National School of Arts. The violinist often gives violin masterclasses both in Lithuania and abroad. More than 50 of her students have become laureates of national and international violin competitions.

Rūta Lipinaitytė is an artistic director of the International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists, and has been invited to work as a jury member at numerous international and national violin competitions, including the Vaclav Huml Violin Competition in Croatia, the Arthur Grumiaux Violin Competition in Belgium, the Karol Lipinski Violin Competition in Poland, the Violinissimo in Kazakhstan, the Sigulda Competition of Young Musicians in Latvia, the Il piccolo violino magico in Italy.

Rūta Lipinaitytė herself is a laureate of several national and international violin both chamber music competitions. As a soloist, Rūta Lipinaitytė has performed with many renowned orchestras, including Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan Artists Symphony Orchestra (TASO), the Lithuanian National and State Symphony Orchestras, Kremerata Baltica, Camerata Kazakhstan, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, as well as chamber orchestras of Klaipėda, Vytautas Magnus University, Šiauliai, Tallinn, and Arkhangelsk, the Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Accademia d’Archi Arrigoni Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra "The Seasons", and Musica Humana Ensemble. In 2022, Rūta Lipinaitytė with the Eesti Sinfonietta made her debut as a soloist at the Wiener Konzerthaus.

The violinist is a four-times recipient of the State Scholarship for Lithuanian Artists', she was also rewarded with a scholarship by the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation. In 2020, Rūta Lipinaitytė won the Golden Disc Award in the category of solo instrumentalists given by the Lithuanian Musicians' Union. In 2024, the violinist has been nominated for the Lithuanian Governmental Prize for Culture and Arts.

The repertoire of Rūta Lipinaitytė is versatile and diverse, but most dear for her is the Lithuanian contemporary music. She has released several music albums. In 2022, she recorded violin concerto "Three M’art Comedy Seasons" by Lithuanian composer Algirdas Martinaitis, which was released under Ondine label together with the other pieces of the composer. The Lithuanian National Radio archives have over 40 recordings of the violinist performing together with various Lithuanian orchestras.

Rūta Lipinaitytė was a long time member of Grammy-awarded orchestra Kremerata Baltica (since its foundation in 1997 to 2014), established and headed by Gidon Kremer. The violinist is often invited to participate in various orchestral projects as a concertmaster or as an assistant concertmaster. Lipinaitytė has repeatedly appeared as a concertmaster in the East-West Chamber Orchestra at the International Yuri Bashmet Festival, she has also performed as a guest concertmaster in the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the Eesti Sinfonietta. As an assistant concertmaster, she appeared in the musicAeterna symphony Orchestra (artistic director Teodor Currentzis) and has performed on a tour in the USA, Japan and Europe, also toured with the SWR Symphony Orchestra.