THE RESONANCE ATLAS
Zita Bružaitė
Biography
Zita Bružaitė (born 1966 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian composer, educator and musical organiser whose output encompasses chamber music, choral writing, music theatre and works for children. She studied composition with Julius Juzeliūnas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, graduating in 1994. In 1998 she co-founded the flexible contemporary chamber ensemble Collegium, and subsequently held leadership roles within the Lithuanian Composers' Union, including its presidency from 2009 to 2017.
Bružaitė's music moves between reflective, conceptually driven compositions and more direct concert works. Her musical language draws variously on jazz, folk music, medieval influences and theatrical imagery. Her catalogue includes Fading Dance, the oratorio Lumen fidei and Hi Haydn for two oboes, bassoon and harpsichord. She has also been closely associated with the contemporary music festival Iš arti in Kaunas.
Why this music interests us
Bružaitė's music is attractive for its freedom of character and its ability to bring apparently distant musical worlds into the same piece. Hi, Haydn! (2004), for two oboes, bassoon and harpsichord, offers an unusual dialogue between historical instrumental associations and contemporary invention. Another particularly intriguing discovery is Piligrimai (1999), a concert-poem for saxophone and bassoon choir. Both works suggest how her playful musical imagination can lead to striking and unfamiliar ensemble combinations.
Selected works & listening
Hi, Haydn! (2004; two oboes, bassoon and harpsichord); Piligrimai (1999; saxophone and bassoon choir); Fading Dance (2003; winds, piano, bass guitar and percussion); Lumen fidei (2013); Rebus musicis et musicantibus; Bagatelles
Further information