I was born in Vilnius, in the beautiful Užupis district, in '89.
Unfortunately, I spent only the first 3 years of my life there, and
fate took me to a completely different corner of the city. My father
was a jazz pianist, so I guess that's where my inclination towards
music came from. Although I had been leaning towards music since I
was a kid, unfortunately I was too lazy and nobody let me go to
music school. Now I am partly grateful to my parents for that - when
I saw the Lithuanian music education system up close. So I decided
to become a musician when I was 14 - inspired by The Beatles, I
wanted to learn to play guitar, but fate got in the way - I couldn't
find a guitar at home among the many different instruments, but I
found a bass - so that's where I started. At school in 2004 we
formed a blues band and that was the beginning of my career.
After a while I realised I wanted to be a pianist, a jazz pianist. I
remember very well - it was 15 August 2005 - when I sat down at the
piano and started to learn my first jazz standard. From January 2006
I started taking private lessons with A. Polevikovas, with whom
later we became great friends - he was preparing me for the entrance
exams to the Conservatoire - so I went there and I got in - and from
the autumn of 2006 I started studying at the Juozas Tallat-Kelpša
Conservatoire in Vilnius under the supervision of Associate
Professor, late Sigitas Giedraitis. In 2007 I formed my first trio
there. There we also founded the RMSC club. After graduating from
the conservatory in 2009 I entered the Faculty of Arts, Jazz
Department of Vilnius College to continue my studies with S.
Giedraitis. I worked in trios and quartets, participated in many
different projects in the College and outside. I am grateful to S.
Giedraitis not only for his musical lessons, but also for life
lessons.
Between my studies at the Conservatory and the College I had one
year off, during which I had a lot of different experiences, both
musical and life. With the quartet at that time, in 2009, we went
abroad for the first time and discovered new contacts in the west of
Germany, in the cities of Dusseldorf, Cologne, and also in The Hague
in the Netherlands. We had the chance to play a few jam sessions in
Dusseldorf and to meet new opinions, new people and to play on a
professional stage.
After the death of my dear father in January 2011, I realised that I
had to carry the musician's flag for the rest of my life. I must
continue to carry on his work, his tradition of thinking and his
philosophy. Also, as a musician, I will take over and continue his
way of playing with two or more keyboard instruments at the same
time, which I started to do right after his death. Although my
Father died as a human being, his work, his thinking and his
philosophy will continue, and even though he was not able to
announce himself to the world for historical and political reasons,
I must do so for him.
As the RMSC activities expanded, I went to represent the tradition
of the RMSC Club in Dusseldorf, West Germany, and lived there for 2
years.
In 2016 I started studying medicine as my secondary profession.
Since 2018 I reside in Panevėžys (Lithuania), where I work in the
new RMSC sound recording studio.
I have participated in the following festivals:
'08 Birštonas Jazz "Tango Extremal" (with V.Čekasinas)
'08 L'viv Folk-Jazz festival (Ukraine; with Bekesh Vilks)
'08 Nida Jazz "Tango Extremal" (again with V.Chekasin)
'08 L'viv International Literary festival (trio)
'10 Birštonas Jazz , joint project with the Scots (with V.
Čekasinas)
'10 Jazz Fountain (with trio, as accompanists)
'11 Vilnius Jazz Young Power (trio)
'11 Elektrėnai Jazz Festival "Jaunystė" (RMSC quartet)
'11 "Jazz Improvisation", piano competition at LMTA (solo
performance)
'13 "In Latino" with RMSC project "Visions from Brazil"
'14 "Jūros šventė" in Klaipėda with RMSC ant Antonio Palmisani
'15 Festival-competition "Jazz Fountain" (with trio as accompanists)
'17 Kaliningrad Jazz Festival (with RMSC quartet and US vocalist
Mandy Gaines)