Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – the Most Famous Lithuanian Conductor

Listen to this text (Lithuanian):

Although it is often claimed that gender equality exists in today’s world, some professions are still considered more “masculine” or “feminine”. For example, when we hear the word conductor, we imagine a man in a black tailcoat standing in front of an orchestra and leading musicians. But the reality is very different from these gendered stereotypes. This is confirmed by the story of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – a world-famous conductor from Lithuania.

Gražinytė-Tyla is only thirty three years old, but today she is one of the most famous conductors, not only in Lithuania, but in the whole world: she has worked with the most famous orchestras in Europe and the United States and was the first woman to lead the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Birmigham,  she was also awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts, and has been nominated for Grammy Awards for classical music. The global importance of Gražinytė-Tyla is also confirmed by the production of a documentary film about her called Going for the Impossible: The Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. According to music critics, she is notable for her unique conducting style which combines energy, intelligence, and self-control.

Gražinytė-Tyla was born in 1986 in Vilnius to a family of musicians. Her father Romualdas Gražinis was a choir conductor, and her mother Sigutė Gražinienė was a pianist and singer. As a child, Gražinytė-Tyla studied art at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art, a choice made by her parents. But when she was eleven, she decided to study music. She chose choral conducting and started conducting choirs at the age of thirteen.

Gražinytė-Tyla says that first of all she is grateful to her parents for giving her the love of music and independence that are necessary for a global career: ‘My mother was nineteen when I was born, and my sister was born ten years later. Thank you to my mother for returning to the Academy of Music as soon as she had given birth and continuing to study the piano. I often fell asleep and woke up listening to her playing and preparing for lectures. Of course, my grandmother, her mother, helped to raise me, and she was able to continue her studies. Both parents took me to their music lessons, choir rehearsals, tours, concerts, and I grew up in that musical world. I couldn’t imagine life without it. I learned to be engaged and take responsibility for myself because they had their own things to do  and I had to keep myself busy. I almost memorised some of the operas while listening.’