Maestro Vytautas Juozapaitis, one of the most prominent Lithuanian opera singers, celebrates his anniversary together with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gintaras Rinkevičius on the stage of the Palace of the Grand Dukes. After graduating from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (prof. Vladimir Prudnikov's class), in 1990 V. Juozapaitis became a soloist with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1992-1993 he studied at the European Opera and Voice Center in Belgium and with Marlena Malas in New York. In 1992 he became the laureate of the Lithuanian young singers competition and the finalist and diploma-holder of the International Luciano Pavarotti competition in the USA.
V. Juozapaitis, laureate of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, professor of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, won almost all of the main Lithuanian music, theatre and state awards: the Lithuanian Theatre Union's Kristoforas Prize (1999), the audience's favourite opera soloist prize (2003 ), the "Golden Disc" prize of the Lithuanian Musicians' Union (2003), the "Kipras" prize as the best Lithuanian singer of the year 2003. In 2006 V. Juozapaitis was awarded the prize of the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania and became the laureate of the "Golden Cross of the Stage". In 2002, 2007 and 2009 the soloist was awarded the "Operos Švyturiai" prize as the Best Opera Soloist of the Year. In 2003 V. Juozapaitis was bestowed the Officer's Cross of the Order "For Merit to Lithuania", in 2013 – the badge of honour of the Ministry of Culture "Carry Your Light and Believe".
The soloist's repertoire includes more than 50 theatrical roles, including Germont (G. Verdi's "La Traviata"), Figaro (G. Rossini's "The Barber of Seville"), Wolfram (R. Wagner's "Tannhäuser"), Guglielmo (W. A. Mozart's "Così fan tutte"), Rigoletto (G. Verdi's "Rigoletto"), Count Šemeta (B. Kutavičius' "The Bear") and others. V. Juozapaitis' repertoire is significantly supplemented by a whole range of baritone parts in oratorio works, such as C. Orff's "Carmina Burana", J. Brahms' "German Requiem", B. Britten's "War Requiem", F. Schubert's "Stabat Mater", etc.
V. Juozapaitis collaborated with many of the most famous Lithuanian and foreign conductors, including Krzysztof Penderecki, Wojciech Rodek, Pawel Przytocki, Ola Rudner, Stefan Lano, David Perry, David Agler, Eduardo Muller, Pinchas Steinberg, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Temirkanov, Saulius Sondeckis, Jonas Aleksa, Juozas Domarkas, Gintaras Rinkevičius and others.
During the years of his impressive international career, V. Juozapaitis also significantly collaborated with the Kaunas and Klaipėda state musical theatres, the Czech National Opera Theatre, the Polish National Opera, the US opera company "Teatro Lirico D'Europa", and participated in many international festivals. Together with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, he recorded an original CD.