Giedrė Šlekytė
First Guest Conductor
The Baltic States surprise us time and again with highly talented, profoundly trained and – at the same time – remarkably individual artistic personalities. Undoubtedly Giedrė Šlekytė is one of them.
Born in Lithuania, Giedrė Šlekytė began her musical education at the National Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Art-School in Vilnius. She went on to study conducting at the University of Music and Fine Arts in Graz (with Prof. Johannes Prinz and Prof. Martin Sieghart), the Academy of Music and Theatre in Leipzig (with Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr and Prof. Matthias Foremny) and the University of Fine Arts in Zurich, where she spent one term with Prof. Johannes Schlaefli. She also attended master classes of Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti and Mario Venzago.
Internationally sought after as a guest conductor Giedrė Šlekytė has already worked with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, hr-sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, RTV Orchestra Ljubljana, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Teatro Comunale Bologna, MDR Leipzig, Gothenburg Symphony and Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, among others.
After her engagement as 1st Kapellmeister at Stadttheater Klagenfurt 2016-18 Giedrė Šlekytė conducted opera in Leipzig, Zurich, Vilnius and at the Salzburg Festival.
In 2019/20 she received invitations for new productions from the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (»The Handmaid’s Tale«), the Royal Flemish Opera Antwerp (»Rusalka«) and the Oper Leipzig (»L'elisir d'amore«). In addition she conducted a revival of »Le nozze di Figaro« at the Lithuanian National Opera in Vilnius. In this season symphonic engagements and re-invitations bring her to Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Orchestre National de Lorraine and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.
Giedrė Šlekytė is a prize winner of the the International Malko Competition for Young Conductors 2015 in Copenhagen and received the 2nd prize at the International Conducting Competition Solon Michaelides 2013 in Cyprus (1st prize not awarded). In March 2015 she was nominated for the Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award and in 2018 as »Newcomer of the year« at the International Opera Awards.
