Deutsche Grammophon, a Berlin-based classical music record label, announced February 1 the signing of an exclusive contract with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the first female conductor to ink a long-term agreement with the record company.

This is an outstanding development for Lithuania as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla joins – for the first time in the country’s history – Deutsche Grammophon’s catalogue alongside legendary conductors, such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Karl Böhm, Pierre Boulez and Carlos Kleiber.

Her debut album at DG, a collection of orchestral pieces by Polish composer Mieczysław Weinberg, is to be released May 2019. It was recorded by the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, its founder and artistic director violinist Giodon Kremer, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Later Gražinytė-Tyla plans to release an album of music by Raminta Šerkšnytė, a Lithuanian composer she has been working closely with for several years. Dedication, resolve, ambitious ideas, unlimited investment of effort and remarkable artistic achievements is what is common between the two personalities some say are “too mature for their age.” 

“Deutsche Grammophon was part of my musical upbringing,” says Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. “It’s a genuine honour to join DG and to record works that will be new to so many listeners. The music of Mieczysław Weinberg and Raminta Šerkšnytė, a rising star among Lithuanian composers, deserves to reach the widest possible audience. I look forward to this thrilling collaboration with DG and to the musical discoveries we can make together.”

The album of music by Raminta Šerkšnytė is to be released in cooperation with the Lithuanian Music Information Centre. For the Lithuanian organization, the project represents its 36th co-production with a foreign label and has become its most intense endeavour in terms of scope and shifting dynamics. All in all, almost 200 musicians and other professionals contributed to the creation of the album.

The project has been made possible thanks to financial support of the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and a partnership with the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society.

Sources: Lithuanian Music Information Centre, Deutsche Grammophon