Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (*1973) has studied composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music (1991–1993 with Prof. Bronius Kutavičius, 1993–1997 with Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas). She has attended many courses and has been instructed by many well-known composers: Bogusław Schaffer, Marek Chołoniewski, Horst Rickels, Michael Jarell, Jonathan Harvey, Ivan Fedele, Magnus Lindberg, Tristan Murail, Brian Ferneyhough etc. In 2010 she was awarded the prize for the best orchestral work (Thousand Doors to the World) at the composers’ competition organized by the Lithuanian Composers’ Union.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė is mostly active in chamber genres and she favors unusual instrumentations. Her music is distinguished by theatrical character, concerto-type quality, evocatively spacious atmosphere. The composer often challenges technical limitations of the instruments, sprinkling her scores with virtuosic solo passages and achieving highly expressive, sometimes even aggressive sound.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: “Though I never considered music merely as a game – I was always looking for the hidden meaning in sounds. For the meaning which is vibrating in every atom of this universe – but often unseen. I want to ask an existentially important question and to find the answer to it with every new composition. A composition is a very particular state of mind, which transforms the composer as well as the listeners.”