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The Lithuaniam choral conductor, Česlovas Radžiūnas, graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in 1977, and completed post-graduate course in opera conducting at the Moscow Conservatory in 1984.
For a short period after returning to Lithuania, Česlovas Radžiūnas has conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Vilnius Municipality and various amateur choirs. In 1985 he was appointed the Associate Professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music (LAM). In the same year he began conducting the Chamber Choir of the LAM, with which he won several important prizes in Italy (Grand Prix in Goricia, 1988; 1st prize in Arezzo, 1989), France (Grand Prix in Tours, 1991) and Spain (1st prize in Tolosa, 1991).
From 1976 to 1985 Česlovas Radžiūnas has also worked as an assistant chorus master at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (LNOBT), where he subsequently became the chief chorus master in 1989. With the LNOBT Chorus Chorus he has prepared the premieres of 67 operas and 15 large-scale symphonic works, including G. Verdi’s Requiem, A. Dvorak’s Requiem (first performance in Lithuania), G. Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, J.S. Bach’s St. Mark Passion (BWV 247) (first performance in Lithuania), F. Schubert’s Stabat Mater, C. Orff’s Carmina Burana, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem, H. Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust and others. Over 100 works were recorded for the funds of Lithuanian Radio and Television.
Together with the LNOBT Chorus, Česlovas Radžiūnas took part in various international opera festivals (Finland, Italy, England), also performed in Germany, Taiwan, Holland, USA. Under his guidance, the LNOBT Chorus performed together with such conductors as Jonas Aleksa, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Juozas Domarkas, as well as other conductors from Lithuania and abroad.
In recent years the press has praised high professional standard that the LNOBT Chorus achieved under the artistic leadership of Česlovas Radžiūnas.
In 1991 Česlovas Radžiūnas was the conductor at the National Song Festival of the Lithuanians living in Canada and USA. In 2001 he received a “Kristoforas” award for the production of P. Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades at the LNOBT, while in 2005 Radžiūnas attained Lithuanian order of Merit - Knight Grand Cross. In 2011 he was also awarded the Culture and Art Prize given by the Lithuanian government. In 2013 Radžiūnas was granted position of a Professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
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