Jonas Benjaminas Balsys (2001)

| Lithuania

Jonas Benjaminas Balsys is a third-generation musician – his grandfather was the famous Lithuanian composer Eduardas Balsys. The pianist is currently seeking for this bachelor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA), in the class of prof. Jurgis Karnavičius and dr. Jurgis Aleknavičius. In recent years, Jonas has often performed M. K. Čiurlionisʼ opuses and has been involved in the dissemination of his pieces. It all started with the The Unidentified Music Cycles of M. K. Čiurlionis organised by the prof. Karnavičiusʼ class students and the event frequently grew into performances of the composer's works outside the Academy. The pianist has presented M. K. Čiurlionis' compositions for the German audience at the International Piano Academy Feuerwerk Einbeck 2021, at the Thomas Mann Festival concert in the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and also played the composer's opuses in the first event of the conversation series Conversations in the Great Hall with the special guest – prof. Vytautas Landsbergis. He also performed in the LMTA event dedicated to the commemoration of the 11th of March, the Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania, as well as in other concerts organised by LMTA.

The pianist's recent most important achievements in competitions include: 2nd prize in the International F. Liszt Music Competition Lisztofonija III (2021) and 1st prize in the XXI International Lithuanian Chamber Music Performance Competition (in memory of prof. Julius Andrejevas, 2022); thanks to this achievement, the pianist and his colleagues for the piano trio had the opportunity to represent the Academy abroad – they took part in the Riga International Chamber Music Festival, where they played among the ensembles from Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Hungary, and also performed works by the important Lithuanian composer Anatolijus Šenderovas, in this way presenting his artistic work.