Onutė Narbutaitė

Labyrinth (Labirintas), for soprano and flute (2017, texts by Ingeborg Bachmann and Jorge Luis Borges, de, en)

just strings and a light wind above them, for string quartet (2017)

The Oedipus Myth (Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus), Lithuanian National Drama Theatre (director Gintaras Varnas, 2016)

Heliography, for soprano, viola, cello and persian drums – tombak and frame drum (2015, texts by Edmundas Gedgaudas, Vaidotas Daunys, O.Narbutaitė, en)

Was There a Butterfly? for chamber orchestra (2013)

Cornet (Kornetas), opera for 9 soloists, choir and orchestra (2012, libretto by O.Narbutaitė, based on texts by Rainer Maria Rilke and other authors)

kein gestern, kein morgen, for mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra (concert version of a fragment from act II of the opera Cornet, 2012/2015, texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, Oscar Milosz, lt, de, fr)

Lapides, flores, nomina et sidera, All Souls' Day chanting for choir, piccolo flute, trumpet, trombone and drum (2008, text: from Psalms, Litany of All Saints, other liturgical texts, O.Narbutaitė, lat)

Cantio vespertina, a separate part of the All Souls' Day chanting project for several chamber choirs and several piccolo flutes (2008, text: Requiem aeternam)

riverbank-river-symphony (krantas upė simfonija), for large orchestra (symphony no. 4, 2007)

Le linee e i contorni, for flute, clarinet, violin and cello (2006)

Pas de deux, for mezzo-soprano and cello (2006, text by Jacques Prévert, fr)

Onutė Narbutaitė is also the recipient of the Lithuanian Association of Art Creators prize (2005), the St Christopher statue awarded by the Vilnius City Municipality (2008), the Golden Cross of the Stage for opera Cornet (most important lithuanian award to the creators of theatre, 2014), the Gold Star awarded by the Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (2015), as well as of other prizes.

At the International Rostrum of Composers, organised by UNESCO’s International Music Council and radio broadcasters on all five continents, to the top ten list of best compositions were chosen her orchestral compositions Melody in the Garden of Olives (Paris, 2004), riverbank-river-symphony (Lisbon, 2010), Was There a Butterfly? (Palermo, 2017).

Her music, as the featured guest composer, has been more widely presented at some festivals and other events in Germany, Poland, Finland, including Aboa musica festival (Turku, 2003) whose entire program was dedicated to the music of two composers - Einojuhani Rautavaara and Onutė Narbutaitė (among other works, Symphony No.2 was performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra).

Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae, for choir and orchestra (symphony no. 3, 2003, texts from the Song of Songs, Angelus Domini, Gloria, Stabat Mater, Hildegard von Bingen, lat)

In 2002-2003 Finlandia Records released a set of four CD’s of Onutė Narbutaitė works. Among international recognized recordings of her works is also the 2011 Naxos CD of Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae, as well as 2017 Naxos symphonic music CD no yesterday, no tomorrow.

In the competitions of the best works of the year organised by the Lithuanian Composers’ Union as the best works were recognized orchestral compositions Symphony Nr.2 (2001), Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae (2004), La barca (2005), choral project Lapides, flores, nomina et sidera (2008), opera Cornet, composition for chamber orchestra Was there a Butterfly? (Composer of the Year, 2014), chamber work Labyrinth (2018).

She has received commissions from the Helsinki Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Bavarian Radio's musica viva series, the 50th Warsaw Autumn, the festivals Klangspuren Schwaz, Velvet Curtain (Krakow – European Capital of Culture 2000 project), Kaustinen XX Chamber Music Week (festival's guest composer),  Europäisches Musikfest Münsterland, ISCM World Music Days / Gaida 2008, as well as the Louth Contemporary Music Society, the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Frankfurt Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Seattle Chamber Players, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet (Fifty for the Future project), among others.

Melody in the Garden of Olives (Melodija Alyvų sode), for large orchestra (2000/2001)

Melody in the Garden of Olives (Melodija Alyvų sode), for trumpet and two string quartets (2000)

Autumn Ritornello. Hommage à Frédéric (Rudens riturnelė), for violin, viola, cello and piano (1999)

Sonnet à l'Amour, for tenor and guitar (1999, text by Oscar Milosz, fr)

Sonnet à l'Amour, version for voice and piano (1999/2017)

In 1997 Narbutaitė received the Lithuanian National Prize for the oratorio Centones meae urbi.

Centones meae urbi, oratorio for soprano, bass-baritone, choir and orchestra (1997, texts by Czesław Miłosz, Moshe Kulbak, Adam Mickiewicz, Mathias Casimirus Sarbievius, Eugenijus Ališanka, Jeremiah's lamentation etc.)

Gesang, for alto, tenor, bass, oboe and organ (1997, text by Rainer Maria Rilke, de)

Sinfonia col triangolo, for chamber orchestra (1996)

Beads (Vėrinys), for several melodic instruments or voices and for one or more percussion players (1995)

Epitaph (Epitafija), for 4 voices or chamber choir, 2 recorders, guitar (harpsichord), hand bell, claves, (1993, text by Rainer Maria Rilke, de)

Metabole, for chamber orchestra (strings-2 oboes-harpsichord, 1992)

Mozartsommer 1991, for flute, violin, viola and harpsichord / piano (1991)

The Drawing for a String Quartet and the Returning Winter (Piešinys styginių kvartetui ir sugrįžtančiai žiemai), string quartet no. 3 (1991)

Summertime (Vasara), for children or female choir (1991, text by O.Narbutaitė, lt)

Onutė Narbutaitė’s compositions can be found on the several dozen CDs, released in Lithuania and abroad, amongst them VĖL: Lithuanian Chamber Music 1991-2001, Guild, GMCD 7283 (2004) and albums by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra: Stimmen: BalticWorks for String Orchestra, Finlandia Records, 4509-97892-2 (1995), Lighthouse, Finlandia Records, 3984-29718-2 (2000), Dedicated to, Alba records, ABCD 414 (2017).

Poem of Vincas Mykolaitis Putinas (Vinco Mykolaičio Putino eilėraštis), for piano and soprano (1990)

Liberatio, for 12 wind instruments (3fl-3ob-3cor-3tn), cymbals and 4 (vn-vl-vc-cb) strings (1989)

Post (Rabindranath Tagore), Vilnius puppet theatre „Lėlė“ (director Rimas Driežis, 1987, later realized as a radio theatre at LRT)

Aštuonstygė / The Eight-string, for violin and viola (1986)

A Snail and a Grasshopper in the Evening Sunlight (Sraigė ir žiogas vakaro saulės šviesoj), for piano four-hands (1986)

A Canon of Sea Pebbles (Jūros akmenėlių kanonas), for piano four-hands (1986)

Vilnius-Divertimento, for flute, 2 recorders, guitar, harpsichord, tambourine and string quartet (1984)

When the last Day of Peace comes (Kai ateina paskutinė taikos diena), for female choir, flute, viola and harpsichord (1982, text by Arvydas Ambrasas, lt)

June Music 1981 (1981-ųjų birželio muzika), for violin and cello (1981)

Open the Gate of Oblivion (Atverk užmaršties vartus), string quartet no. 2 (1980)

The Road to Silence (Ėjimas į tylą), for organ (1980)

Born in Vilnius, in the family of musicologist Ona Narbutienė and geologist Vytautas Narbutas, Onutė Narbutaitė learned the basics of composition from Bronius Kutavičius at M.K.Čiurlionis School of Art, graduating in 1979 from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) where she studied composition under Julius Juzeliūnas. From 1979 to 1982 she taught music theory and history at the Klaipėda Faculty of the Lithuanian State Conservatory. Since then she has been working as a freelance composer in Vilnius. Her works have been performed at various concerts and music festivals in the many European countries, USA, Canada, South Korea.

Night Cantata (Nakties kantata), for vocal ensemble or chamber choir (1978, text by Antanas A. Jonynas, lt)

Three Pieces for Two Little Pianists, for piano four-hands (1975)

Songs for a children’s choir (more than twenty songs for different age groups, 1972-1999)

Onutė Narbutaitė (born 12 June 1956, Vilnius) is a Lithuanian composer.