JULIUS GENIUŠAS

BIOGRAPHY

Conductor Julius Geniušas graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (prof.  J. Aleksa’s class) and obtained the speciality of orchestra and opera conductor.  Since 1986 he has been working at the Kaunas State Musical Theatre, in 1990–2015 he was this theatre’s chief  conductor.  As of 2015 J. Geniušas is working with the LNOBT.  He is also professor with the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

J. Geniušas has conducted over 2700 performances at the Kaunas State Musical Theater, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Vilnius Congress Hall (with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra), and Lithuanian Opera in Chicago.

He has prepared over 30 productions at the Kaunas State Musical Theatre – operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and is currently conducting many performances, including F. Lehar’s “Paganini”, G. Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”, W. A. Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, J. Kander’s “Cabaret”, C. Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate”, J. Strauss “Die Fledermaus”, G. Bizet’s “Carmen”, G. Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”, U. Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier”, W. A. Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”, Ch. Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet”, J. Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, G. Puccini’s “Gianni Shicchi”, etc.

J. Geniušas also prepared and conducted 6 premiere productions by the Lithuanian Opera in Chicago: “Jūratė and Kastytis” by V. Banaitis, “Martha” by F. Flotow, “The Merry Widow”, “Paganini”, “Il conte di Lussemburgo” by F. Lehar, “L’elisir d’amore” by G. Donizetti.

He has conducted over 20 symphony music concerts and 6 opera performances with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, collaborated with conductor G. Rinkevičius and director D. Ibelhauptaitė’s in opera productions of G. Puccini’s “La boheme”, W. A. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”, J. Massenet’s “Werther”, R. Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”.

Beginning with 1992, J. Geniušas conducted more than 200 performances at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, participated in 11 productions, including G. Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, Ch. Gounod’s “Faust”, J. Massenet’s “Manon”, P. Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades”, O. Narbutaitė’s “Cornet”, B. Bartok’s “Miraculous Mandarin / Bluebeard’s Castle”, etc., also prepared the premieres of G. Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and R. Šerkšnytė’s “Five Miracles of Mary”.

J. Geniušas has prepared and conducted over 120 symphonic, opera and chamber music programs in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, USA, Germany, Russia with the Lithuanian State Symphony, Lithuanian National Symphony, Kaunas State Musical Theatre Symphony, Kaunas Symphony, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Symphony, Symphony Orchestra of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Conservatoire in Saint Petersburg, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia and EU, Latvian Chamber, Latvian Symphony, Estonian Symphony, Tartu Symphony, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra.

The conductor participated in music festivals: Jeunesses Musicales (Germany, 1992), Classionata (Switzerland, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), Palanga Music (1998), Klaipėda Music (1998), Pažaislis Music (1997, 1998, 1999,  2001), Gaida (1999, 2004), Young Music (2001), Music in European Castles (2008), Operadays (Estonia, Kuressaare, 2004).  Since 2002 he has been conducting the international festival Operetta at the Kaunas Castle every year, and for 10 years was the chief conductor of the festival.

8 CDs of works conducted by J. Geniušas with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Kaunas State Musical Theatre Orchestra were released.

Conductor J. Geniušas was awarded the Order of the White Star of the Republic of Estonia, Kaunas’  2nd Degree of the Honor of Santaka (2004). In 2012, together with the entire creative team, he received the Fortune Prize for the staging  of G. Donizetti's opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Kaunas State Musical Theatre.