Zibuokle Martinaityte

The works of Žibuoklė Martinaitytė have been lauded as “breathtaking [and] profoundly moving” by San Francisco Classical Voice, while The Wire praises her “complex structures of perception and rich textures of experience.” Based in New York City, the Lithuanian-born composer was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Arts and Culture in 2022. She received the Guggenheim Fellowship (2020), the Lithuanian Government Award (2020) and the Medal of Honor from the President of Lithuania (2022). Her solo CD In Search of Lost Beauty… received two gold medals at the Global Music Awards for Best Composer and Best Album.

Saudade, her album of orchestral works, was named one of NPR’s Top 10 Classical Albums of 2021. Released on the Ondine label, Saudade gained the composer wide critical acclaim from the New York Times, Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, Limelight Magazine and many more. Reviewing Saudade for NPR, Tom Huizenga wrote: “This album makes the case for Martinaitytė as one of today’s most distinctive orchestral composers.” In February 2022, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, gave the U.S. premiere of the album’s title piece.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė has received commissions from the MATA Festival (2008), Barlow Endowment (2012), Look+Listen Festival (2017), San Francisco’s Volti (2018) and the Bang On A Can Marathon (2020), as well as a fellowship for the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco (2011) and the New Works Residency at Harvestworks in New York (2016). In 2017, she was granted the Copland House Sylvia Goldstein Award and the “Composers Now” Award for residency at the Pocantico Center. In 2012, she was a winner of the "Look+Listen" Composers Competition Prize (NYC).

Martinaitytė was awarded a number of fellowships for creative residencies at the MacDowell Colony for Artists in New Hampshire (2009, 2011, 2019), Aaron Copland House (2010, 2019), Millay Colony for Artists (2012), Wildacres (2014), Djerassi Artists Residency (2017) Willapa Bay Residency (2018), Cité des Arts (2015, Paris, France) and the Bogliasco Foundation (2020, Italy).

Albums