Jonas Paulikas

Jonas Paulikas (b.1944) began composing while studying under Teisutis Makačinas at the Juozas Tallat-Kelpša College of Music in Vilnius (present Vilnius J. Tallat-Kelpša Conservatory). He continued his composition studies at the Lithuanian State Conservatory (present Lithuanian Academy of Music) with Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas, and after graduation in 1972 taught various theoretical disciplines at the Klaipėda Faculties of the Lithuanian State Conservatory (present Art Faculty of the Klaipėda University), where he was subsequently appointed Head of the Music History and Theory Department (1990). After leaving this post in 1993, he continued teaching as an Associate Professor (since 1992).

The major part of his creative output consists of chamber pieces for various instrumental settings which display certain features characteristic of neoclassical style. For instance, he often opts for traditional genres, such as invention, passacaglia, suite, concerto, sonata, quintet. Polyphony is one of the key elements in his works that often employ canonic technique, imitations, various contrapuntal combinations constructed and developed according to the principles of serial music.

Jonas Paulikas is especially keen on writing pure, abstract music rather than programmatic works. He seeks to render long matured ideas, thus his manner of writing is predominantly rational and temperate, and his musical thoughts, aphoristically stated in the series of sounds, are concise and well-defined.

Pieces for folk instruments make up another important area of his work notable for resourceful and innovative treatment of folk instruments and their technical possibilities.