New Music Week 2024

Various locations in Maastricht

17:00 & 19:00

13:30 & 16:15 & 18:30 & 19:45

15:00 & 20:00

A Festival of the composition class of Conservatorium Maastricht

- Concerts are free to attend, no reservations required -

Immerse yourself in the dialogue between tradition and innovation: witness the fusion of diverse backgrounds, cultural perspectives, and ideas expressed through music by our composition students, alongside the collaboration of curious performers from our school. Led by Vykintas Baltakas, the composition class showcases bold experimentation and creativity.

Schedule
4 June at 17:00 Works of Asja Kadić at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)
4 June at 19:00 Works of Ethan Blackburn at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)

5 June at 17:00 Works of Noel Aiyar and Mario Calzada Peña at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)
5 June at 19:00 Works of Konstantinos Loumpas at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)

6 June at 13:30 Works by Leon Lončar, Athena Taghavi, Theo Brown and Sara Carmona at Theater aan het Vrijthof
6 June at 16:15 Marijn Simons at Theater aan het Vrijthof
6 June at 18:30 Works of Leon Lončar, Ethan Mileski and Nader Adabnejad at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)
6 June at 19:45 Works of Nader Adabnejad at the Willem Hijstek Hall (Bonnefantenstraat 15)

7 June at 15:00 Works of Ido Ulmer at Theater aan het Vrijthof
7 June at 20:00 Works of Hon Ning Cheung at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek

View the online programme here

About Vykintas Baltakas

Baltakas studied composition with Vytautas Barkauskas and conducting with Lionginas Abarius at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Vilnius. He went on to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm and conducting with Andreas Weiss. From 1994 to 1996 he participated in the International Courses for New Music in Darmstadt where he was awarded the Stipendium prize for his Pasaka for solo piano in 1996. From 1994 to 1997 he pursued his studies under the tutorship of composer and conductor Peter Eötvös at the Music Academy in Karlsruhe and at the Hungarian composer’s International Institute and, from 1997, under composer Emmanuel Nunes at the Paris Conservatory. From 1999–2000 he took a one year course at IRCAM in Paris.
Between 2003-2006 Baltakas studied philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE).

Vykintas Baltakas’s works have been regularly performed at major international festivals with commissioned works, including WDR Cologne, Munich Biennale, Wiener Festwochen, Maerzmusik Berlin, Salzburger Festspiele, Venice Biennale, Eclat Festival, Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium and Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. New works were written for Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, WDR Symphony Orchestra, SWR SO, Bavarian Radio SO, Lithuanian National SO, David Geringas, Piano Duo GrauSchumacher.

Vykintas Baltakas’ works have been awarded with prizes such as the International Claudio Abbado Composition Prize in 2003 and the Siemens Advancement Award in 2007. CD recordings of his compositions and performances have been made by the Ensemble musikFabrik Cologne, the Ensemble Modern, produced by WERGO, NEOS, FUGA LIBERA and others. In 2016 the KAIROS label released Baltakas’ portrait album b(ell tree).

Vykintas Baltakas has conducted orchestras such as the RSO and DSO Berlin, the Bavarian Radio SO and the WDR SO as well as ensembles including Ensemble Resonanz, the Ensemble Modern and Scharoun Ensemble. As a performer he has collaborated with influential composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Peter Eötvös, Georg Friedrich Haas and Dieter Schnebel.

In 2009 he founded the LENsemble Vilnius (Lithuanian Ensemble Network). From September 2015 Vykintas Baltakas was a guest Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and in the same year started his composition class at the conservatory in Maastricht. He currently holds a professorship at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre where he theaches performance of contemporary music, a program which he created together with Liudas Mockūnas in 2016.

In 2020 Vykintas Baltakas started curating the series of contemporary music at the No Business Records label.

See website