Onutė Narbutaitė

Onutė Narbutaitė (born 12 June 1956, Vilnius) is a Lithuanian composer.

Born in Vilnius, in the family of musicologist Ona Narbutienė and geologist Vytautas Narbutas, Onutė Narbutaitė learned the basics of composition from Bronius Kutavičius at M.K.Čiurlionis School of Art, graduating in 1979 from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) where she studied composition under Julius Juzeliūnas.

From 1979 to 1982 she taught music theory and history at the Klaipėda Faculty of the Lithuanian State Conservatory.

Since then she has been working as a freelance composer in Vilnius.

Her works have been performed at various concerts and music festivals in the many European countries, USA, Canada, South Korea.

Narbutaitė develops a very personal musical language with characteristic features such as intellectualism and solid structuring, expressive instrumentation and suggestive melodic writing, multilayered vertical stacking and an intense musical flow.

Her aural imagery correlates with a great number of cultural reminiscences in her music.

Symphony, for large orchestra (no.1, 1979)

Open the Gate of Oblivion (Atverk užmaršties vartus), string quartet no. 2 (1980)

The Road to Silence (Ėjimas į tylą), for organ (1980)

June Music 1981 (1981-ųjų birželio muzika), for violin and cello (1981)

Interludium, for flute, cello and organ (1983)

Vilnius-Divertimento, for flute, 2 recorders, guitar, harpsichord, tambourine and string quartet (1984)

Aštuonstygė / The Eight-string, for violin and viola (1986)

Vijoklis / Climber (Twiner), for two pianos(1988)

Liberatio, for 12 wind instruments (3fl-3ob-3cor-3tn), cymbals and 4 (vn-vl-vc-cb) strings (1989)

Poem of Vincas Mykolaitis Putinas (Vinco Mykolaičio Putino eilėraštis), for piano and soprano (1990)

Opus lugubre, for chamber orchestra (1991)

Mozartsommer 1991, for flute, violin, viola and harpsichord / piano (1991)

The Drawing for a String Quartet and the Returning Winter (Piešinys styginių kvartetui ir sugrįžtančiai žiemai), string quartet no. 3 (1991)

Metabole, for chamber orchestra (strings-2 oboes-harpsichord, 1992)

Sinfonia col triangolo, for chamber orchestra (1996)

In 1997 Narbutaitė received the Lithuanian National Prize for the oratorio Centones meae urbi.

Centones meae urbi, oratorio for soprano, bass-baritone, choir and orchestra (1997, texts by Czesław Miłosz, Moshe Kulbak, Adam Mickiewicz, Mathias Casimirus Sarbievius, Eugenijus Ališanka, Jeremiah's lamentation etc.)

She has received commissions from the Helsinki Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Bavarian Radio's musica viva series, the 50th Warsaw Autumn, the festivals Klangspuren Schwaz, Velvet Curtain (Krakow – European Capital of Culture 2000 project), Kaustinen XX Chamber Music Week (festival's guest composer),  Europäisches Musikfest Münsterland, ISCM World Music Days / Gaida 2008, as well as the Louth Contemporary Music Society, the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Frankfurt Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Seattle Chamber Players, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet (Fifty for the Future project), among others.

Narbutaitė’s music has been performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Sinfonietta, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga, Ensemble Resonanz, Silesian String Quartet, Arditti Quartet and many others.

Melody in the Garden of Olives (Melodija Alyvų sode), for large orchestra (2000/2001)

In the competitions of the best works of the year organised by the Lithuanian Composers’ Union as the best works were recognized orchestral compositions Symphony Nr.2 (2001), Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae (2004), La barca (2005), choral project Lapides, flores, nomina et sidera (2008), opera Cornet, composition for chamber orchestra Was there a Butterfly? (Composer of the Year, 2014), chamber work Labyrinth (2018).

Symphony No. 2, for large orchestra (2001)

In 2002-2003 Finlandia Records released a set of four CD’s of Onutė Narbutaitė works.

Her music, as the featured guest composer, has been more widely presented at some festivals and other events in Germany, Poland, Finland, including Aboa musica festival (Turku, 2003) whose entire program was dedicated to the music of two composers - Einojuhani Rautavaara and Onutė Narbutaitė (among other works, Symphony No.2 was performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra).

Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae, for choir and orchestra (symphony no. 3, 2003, texts from the Song of Songs, Angelus Domini, Gloria, Stabat Mater, Hildegard von Bingen, lat)

At the International Rostrum of Composers, organised by UNESCO’s International Music Council and radio broadcasters on all five continents, to the top ten list of best compositions were chosen her orchestral compositions Melody in the Garden of Olives (Paris, 2004), riverbank-river-symphony (Lisbon, 2010), Was There a Butterfly? (Palermo, 2017).

Onutė Narbutaitė is also the recipient of the Lithuanian Association of Art Creators prize (2005), the St Christopher statue awarded by the Vilnius City Municipality (2008), the Golden Cross of the Stage for opera Cornet (most important lithuanian award to the creators of theatre, 2014), the Gold Star awarded by the Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (2015), as well as of other prizes.

La barca, for large orchestra (2005)

riverbank-river-symphony (krantas upė simfonija), for large orchestra (symphony no. 4, 2007)

Among international recognized recordings of her works is also the 2011 Naxos CD of Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae, as well as 2017 Naxos symphonic music CD no yesterday, no tomorrow.

Cornet (Kornetas), opera for 9 soloists, choir and orchestra (2012, libretto by O.Narbutaitė, based on texts by Rainer Maria Rilke and other authors)

kein gestern, kein morgen, for mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra (concert version of a fragment from act II of the opera Cornet, 2012/2015, texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, Oscar Milosz, lt, de, fr)

Was There a Butterfly? for chamber orchestra (2013)