BIOGRAPHY
By Florian Spieker
Gintaras Januševičius rose to fame in May 2004, after the performance at the semi-finals of the Montréal International Music Competition. His interpretation of Études-Tableaux Op. 39 by Rachmaninoff was publicly praised by pianists Jean-Philippe Collard, Akiko Ebi, Michel Dalberto, Lee Kum-Sing, etc.
Januševičius has been a prize winner and finalist of fifteen music competitions all over the world, ending his competition career in 2011. He has performed with respected orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, both Lithuanian National and Lithuanian State Symphonic Orchestras, etc. He has also appeared at numerous festivals, including the Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj, Mozartfest Würzburg, Festival Besançon, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, etc. alongside Jörg Widmann, Tung-Chieh Chuang, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Leonid Gorokhov, Saulius Sondeckis, Samuel Hasselhorn, Felix Klieser, Giedrė Šlekytė, Fuat Mansurov, and the Čiurlionis Quartet.
His recitals include numerous appearances in most major cities in Lithuania and Germany as well as New York, Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro, Shenzhen, London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, Zurich, etc.
"Gintaras Januševičius glides, like an albatross. His semi-final and final performances were rare revelations for me; they fall outside the scope of competition <...> because they are neither rankable nor quantifiable. All eyes were on Januševičius after the semi-finals, on which he had left his imprint as a kind of apparition from another place, notably with his performance of Rachmaninoff's Études-tableaux Opus 39. <...> We saw him shake up the rhythms, moving forward, straight as a pin, with the simplicity of the master and the vitality of the young man he is."
- Christophe Huss, Classics Today
In 2008 he created a highly successful concert series “Plathner’s Eleven” and served as its artistic director until 2015. He also co-created and served as the artistic director of the music competition "Die Hannoversche Börse der Musiktalente" from 2013 to 2018. Since 2017 he serves as the artistic director of various piano competitions, festivals, and academies organized under the "Klavierstadt Einbeck" brand.
In parallel to an active artistic output, Januševičius shares his knowledge and experience in his lectures and master classes in USA, Japan, PR China, Brazil, as well as in most European countries. Since 2017 he serves as the artistic director and professor of piano at the summer piano academy "Klaipėda Piano Masters" in Lithuania, as well as at the invitation-only piano academy "Feuerwerk Einbeck" in Germany. Throughout the year he mentors private students in his Hanover studio. In 2020 he joined the teaching staff of the Hanover University of Music, Theater, and Medias (HMTM Hannover).
2021-2023 he co-hosted the music show "Bazinis Akordas" on the Lithuanian National Classical Radio LRT KLASIKA.
His Lithuanian "The Little Prince" tour in December 2023 and March 2024 was a major success, playing 11 recitals in 8 cities and selling out most venues. In season 2024/2025 Januševičius continues performing "The Little Prince" as well as other solo and chamber projects. He is also scheduled to appear on tours, masterclasses, and competition juries in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
By Serge Kasin