Irma Kliauzaitė / Pianist
Music studies and tuition
This pianist was born in Lithuania where she began to study the piano from the age of 6. Irma Kliauzaitė graduated with distinction in Concert Piano under Prof. Peter Lang and in Chamber Music under Prof. Alex Lubimov from the University Mozarteum Salzburg.
She has attended numerous master classes led by Lazar Berman, Dimitri Bashkirov, Germaine Mounier, Aldona Dvarionaite, Lew Wlasenko and Barbara Hesse-Bukovska, among others.
In addition to her busy life of concerts, Irma Kliauzaitė gives tuition at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg and also is involved in various master classes and musical academies.
Awards and accolades
First prize in the Young Pianists of Lithuania competition at the age of twenty
Commendation at the Kišiněv competition in 1989
First prize in the Lithuanian Chamber Music Competition
Prize at the M. K. Čiurlionis International Competition in Vilnius
Special prize for interpretation of a composition by M. K. Čiurlionis
Special Distinction of Honour from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture for the study of music
First prize at the 7th W. A. Mozart International Competition in Salzburg
The Madame Fukuda Prize
The Bösendorf Prize (Vienna)
The Bernhard Paumgartner (Mozarteum Salzburg international foundation)
Scroll of Thanks from the President of the State of Lithuania
Curriculum vitae professionalis
Irma Kliauzaitė was born in Lithuania and studied piano from the age of 6. She graduated from the prestigious M. K. Čiurlionis Secondary School of Arts in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. At the age of 12, she won first prize at a competition for young Lithuanian pianists.
In 1989 she was awarded a prize as the youngest participant in a competition in Kishinev in Moldova One year later, she won 1st prize at a Lithuanian chamber music competition.
In 1990 she began studying the piano at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. From 1993 she continued her piano studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. In 1991 she won a prize in the M. K. Čiurlionis International Competition in Vilnius. On that occasion, she was also awarded a special prize for interpreting compositions by M. K. Čiurlionis, the eminent Lithuanian composer and painter.
At the Mozarteum University in Salzburg she studied concert piano with Prof. Peter Lang and chamber music with Prof. Alex Lubimov. In both subjects she graduated with distinction. For both, she received commendations from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
Irma Kliauzaitė has taken part in many master classes given, among others, by Lazar Berman, Dimitri Bashkirov, Germaine Mounier, Aldona Dvarionaite, Lew Wlasenko and Barbara Hesse-Bukovska.
Her artistic debut was in 1996 at the Salzburger Mozartwoche festival.
At the 7th W. A. Mozart International Competition in Salzburg in 1999, one of the most prestigious European competitions of its kind, Irma Kliauzaitė was declared the competition’s absolute winner. She was also winner at the Salzburger Mozartwoche festival, where she was received very favourably by the critics. She was also awarded the Madame Fukuda prize and was invited to give a concert tour in Japan. She subsequently visited Weimar, where she performed at a concert at the Franz Liszt Academy on the occasion of the opening of a new concert hall in the city. Her performance of Mozart’s piano concerto No. 17 in G major, KV 453 at a concert at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg won an enthusiastic reception from the audience.
Irma Kliauzaitė is a laureate of the Bösendorf Prize (Vienna) and the Bernard Paumgartner Medal (International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg). In 2001 her musical success earned her a deed of thanks from the President of Lithuania.
In Lithuania, Irma Kliauzaitė often performed as a soloist with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist with the Mozarteum University Symphony Orchestra, the European C.H.A.I.N. Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dvořák Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with many conductors, including George Alexander Albrecht, Dennis Russell Davies, Yoon-Kuk Lee, Saulius Sondeckis, Juozas Domarkas, Hubert Soudant and Jorge Uliate.
Irma Kliauzaitė has performed at many music festivals,including the Sommermusik festival in Berlin, the Pianoforte Festival Meissen, the Festival Hall in Tyrol, the Festival de Ushuaina in Argentina, the Festival de Piano Brignoles in Provence, the W. A. Mozart Festival in Milan, the “Gaida” Festival of Contemporary Music in Vilnius, the W. A. Mozart Festival in Vilnius, the May Festival in Rellingen, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Thomas Mann Festival in Lithuania, the Schloss Berleburg International Music Festival, the Salzburg Cultural Days, the Schwarzwald Music Festival, and the Mozart Days in Bratislava.
Irma Kliauzaitė is also intensively involved in chamber music. She created a unique musical atmosphere in her performances with such ensembles as the Salzburger Solisten, the Jerusalem String Trio and the Twins Quartet. She has performed her exceptionally broad repertoire of music for strings and piano with many violinists including Luz Leskowitz, Martin Murmelter, Christiane-Maria Höller, Paul Roczek and Heidi Litschauer.
In addition to classical works, Irma Kliauzaitė also performs music by contemporary composers, premiering a number of modern works.
Irma Kliauzaitė often performs in Austria, her second home country. Her solo evening recitals, chamber music concerts and performances with orchestras have also taken her to Japan, Germany, Italy, Russia, France, Argentina, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Holland, and the Czech Republic, as well as to her homeland of Lithuania.
Irma Kliauzaitė features on many radio and television recordings, which testify to her exceptionally high standard of musicianship, characterised by her great lyrical talent. In her interpretations of Mozart, Chopin and Brahms, she fully trusts her gift for using the instrument’s clear and full sound , and uses the nuances of the piano to achieve the music’s perfect harmonic essence. Her dramatic fortes fully radiate without encumbering the music, which, on the contrary, is free of any deceptive sharpness or artificial dynamics.
Apart from many concert engagements, Irma Kliauzaitė also teaches at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. She also works at many master classes and musical academies.