Teisutis Makačinas

Teisutis Makačinas. Photo by Eglė Gudžinskaitė, sourced from the Lithuanian Wikipedia

Teisutis Makačinas (born on September 5th, 1938 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian composer and pedagogue. He was one of the disco pioneers in the USSR who made his contribution to the development of the Soviet space sound.

Biography

Teisutis Makačinas attended the Juozas Tallat-Kelpša Music Technical School in Vilnius between 1951 and 1956, before moving on to the LSSR Conservatory between 1956 and 1961, where he studied composition under Julius Juzeliūnas.

In 1959 he became a Lecturer at the Juozas Tallat-Kelpša Music Technical School in Vilnius, and between 1973 and 2001 he was the head of its Department of Music Theory and Composition. Between 1961 and 1967 also taught at the LSSR Conservatory. In 1985 he became an Associate Professor at the Department of Music Theory of the LSSR Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater) and in 1996 a full professor. In 2012 he became the President of the Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (LATGA). ^[1] He is also a member of the Lithuanian Composers' Union. ^[2]

Works

Teisutis Makačinas describes his style of writing as a junction of neoclassicism with a sort of folk music transformations reminiscent of Bartók. Although he seems to avoid quoting Lithuanian folk tunes, certain folk intonations still play an important part in many of his works. Taken as a whole, his music reveals its linear nature, inclination for polyphonic procedures of elaboration and development as well as clearly defined structures, based on strict inner logic. The accretion of simple, slightly varied repetitive patterns in his compositions of the recent decade attest to the increase of minimalist tendencies in his music. Teisutis Makačinas writes profusely for organ: he is an author of five organ sonatas, which represent a unique blend of traditional and modern elements. He is also very much fond of a sound produced by the string orchestra, because string instruments, according to him, are most lively and best responding to the efforts of a performer. The composer is also author of several popular songs and often writes incidental music.

Awards

• 1967 and 1969 - Stasys Šimkus Prize
• 2013 - Badge of Honor of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
• 2018 - Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit for Lithuania ^[5]
• 2019 - MAMA Award

References

1. https://www.latga.lt/istorija.html Archived copy 2019-05-31 from Wayback Machine project.
2. https://www.lks.lt/lt/nariai/kompozitoriai/
3. Adeodatas Tauragis. Teisutis Makačinas. Encyclopedia of Soviet Lithuania, Vol. 2 (Grūdas-Marvelės). - Vilnius: Chief Edition of Encyclopedias, 1986. 680 p.
4. Adeodatas Tauragis. Teisutis Makačinas. Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia , T. XIV (Magdalena-México). - Vilnius: Institute of Science and Encyclopedia Publishing, 2008. 74 p.
5. https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAD/590d4723123111e88a05839ea3846d8e
6. https://www.mic.lt/en/database/classical/composers/makacinas/
7. https://www.discogs.com/artist/1393469-Teisutis-Maka%C4%8Dinas

Text adapted from the Lithuanian Wikipedia