Ruta Vitkauskaite’s (b.1984) musical interests are widely varied – while working in the field of classical composition (PhD at Royal Academy of Music at the moment, in 2009 Masters at Lithuanian Academy of Music), Ruta has also been active initiator of experimental music projects (music visualization, acoustic surround, music personalization), organizer (2006-2013 director of Druskomanija festival and workshop series the Process), performer (violin, piano, voice, electronics). Since moving to UK, Ruta has developed deep interest in music education (Learning Trainee at BCMG, Fellow at Open Academy at RAM, since 2013 working creatively with people living with dementia) and in research in personal music performance.
Musical language (text by Asta Pakarklyte, 2009)
In her music, Ruta Vitkauskaite strives to grasp the fundamental matters, the primeval universality, as if looking for the ‘philosophical stone’ of the mythic musical substance. Her works show a highly powerful basis of irrational intuition, hard to describe soundscapes resembling archetypes – the shapes of the collective unconscious. The composer often combines the language of contemporary academic music, elements of ethnic and ritual music of different cultures (African tribes, shamans of the North, Georgians, Arabs and Jews, or the Lithuanian laments), or the sounds of experimental electronics. Her eccentric works often resemble natural forces, seemingly unorganised and chaotic formations, sticking together into a highly dynamic, vital and unpredictable whole, always generating an active emotion.
http://rutavitkauskaite.weebly.com