Remigijus Šileika

Remigijus Šileika (b.1950) was educated at the Faculty of Music of the Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute (1972) and the Lithuanian Academy of Music under Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas (1981). Since 1995, he has been Associate Professor at the Klaipėda University, Department of Music History and Theory. In 1998 he was granted a state scholarship for creative work.

From 1995 to 1997 Šileika was chairman of the Klaipėda Branch of the Lithuanian Composers' Union, a post to which he was re-elected in 2002. The composer stands out as an active cultural figure in Klaipėda: thus far he had organized four "Marių klavyrai" international new music festivals and initiated numerous concerts of Klaipėda-based composers and performers in various cities throughout Lithuania. He has also written scholarly papers for conferences and articles dealing with the variety of musical issues.

His works have been performed at various festivals, concerts and competitions in Lithuania ("Marių klavyrai", "Gaida", Thomas Mann Festival, "Muzikos pavasaris", etc.), Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and elsewhere.

Remigijus Šileika's music may be characterized as emotionally evocative, vital and dramatic. Quite often in his music atonal harmonies are set against the diatonic chords to form highly distinctive contrapuntal combinations. Major part of his creative output consists of vocal pieces, which reveal an outstanding melodic inventiveness, exceptional shrewdness in handling with vocal possibilities and sensitivity to poetic nuances of the text.