Jonas Tamulionis

Jonas Tamulionis (b.1949) studied music at the Faculty of Music of the Vilnius Pedagogic Institute (graduating in 1970) and in the class of composition under Prof. Eduardas Balsys at the Lithuanian Academy of Music (graduating in 1976). He was the executive secretary (1979-84) and subsequently the first secretary (1984-89) of the Board of the Lithuanian Composers' Union. He currently teaches notation software at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. In 2011, he was awarded the Lithuanian Government Prize of Arts and Culture.

To date, Jonas Tamulionis has won over 40 prizes for his compositions presented at various international competitions: the Prize of the Swiss Choir Association for his "Im letzten Strahle der Garten liegt" and "Dass wir einmal frölich waren" (1993), the special prize of the jury in Italy for Ten Etudes for accordion (1995), first prizes of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Choral Competition (Spain) for "Canciones de la Tierra" (1995), "Oda al Atlantico" and "Los Juegos" (1997), seven prizes of the Stasys Šimkus Choral Competition for "Little Magpie, Little Crow" (1984), "Kupolio kupolėlio" (1987), "Numerations" (1990), "On the Shore" (1992), "Three Lithuanian Folk Songs" (1994), "Sea" (1995), and "Two Allegories of a Bird" (1997) as well as roughly 20 prizes for the works for children, etc.

Jonas Tamulionis is an exceptionally prolific author, whose list of works boasts over 300 compositions. Among them, those written for guitar, accordion and choir are accorded a special place. Such general descriptions as the linear development, polyphonic textures and neo-classical means of expression may well characterize his stylistic preferences. In his music, the composer aims at a natural synthesis of Lithuanian folk music and modern compositional techniques.