Sondeckis, Saulius

In 1935 - 1944 he studied at the Šiauliai Gymnasium for boys, in 1946 - 1947 - at Vilnius High School.

In 1952 he graduated from the Lithuanian Conservatory in Vilnius (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater ) with a degree in violin by A. Livont . In 1957 - 1960 he studied at the graduate school at the Moscow Conservatory ( in absentia ). In 1963, he took a six-month course with the French conductor I. Markevich and his assistant O.V. Mueller.

He began his artistic career as a violinist and viola player .

From 1952 to 1959 he taught violin at the Vilnius Conservatory. Yu. Tallat-Kelpshi, since 1955 - at the School of Arts. M.K. Čiurlionis , since 1957 - at the same time at the Lithuanian Conservatory (in 1959 - 1987 - head of the department of stringed instruments, since 1977 - professor).

In 1955, he headed the string orchestra of students of the School of Arts. M. Čiurlionis. In 1964 , having performed with the orchestra at the festival in Bucharest , he became the first Lithuanian conductor to go on tour at the head of his own collective ^[1] . In 1976, the team won the Gold Medal among youth orchestras at the International Herbert von Karayan Foundation competition in West Berlin ^[2] .

Founder and permanent leader of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra ( 1960 - 2004 ) and the St. Petersburg Camerata Orchestra in Leningrad (since 1989 ; now the State Hermitage Orchestra "St. Petersburg Camerata" ), with which he toured in many countries. At the VI Berlin Biennale of Contemporary Music in 1977, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and its leader were awarded the critique prize “For a better interpretation”.

He is one of the founders of the Hermitage Academy of Music program and president of the Hermitage Academy of Music Foundation (since 1997, St. Petersburg ).

Since 2004 - chief guest conductor of the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra. In 2005 - Head of the Lithuanian Baltic Chamber Orchestra.

Since 2004 - Member of the Union of Social Democrats of Lithuania.

In 2010, the name of Sondeckis was given to the Šiauliai Conservatory (now Šiauliai School of Art).

He was buried in Antakalnis cemetery .

Family

• Father - Jatskas Sondeckis (1893-1989), politician, burgomaster Šiauliai (1925-1931)
• Mother - Rosalia Sondeckene, teacher of the Šiauliai Gymnasium for boys
• Wife - Sylvia Sondeckene, cellist, professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater
• Sons:
  • Saulius (born 1954), journalist
  • Paulus, violinist, lives in Salzburg , ( Austria )
  • Vytautas, cellist, works in Hamburg ( Germany ).

The most famous achievements of Sondeckis are associated with the music of V. A. Mozart - in particular, with the cycle from all the clavier concerts of Mozart (together with the pianist V. Krainev ) performed in Vilnius, Moscow and Leningrad , and with the concert recording of the opera Don Juan . At the same time, Sondeckis collaborated with many prominent contemporary composers. His record of the 13th symphony of D. Shostakovich was highly appreciated. Under the direction of Sondeckis, the world premieres of the works of A. Schnittke , A. Pärt , E. Denisov , R. Shchedrin , S. Slonimsky , B. Dvarionas and others took place. Their works were dedicated to Sondeckis A. Pärt (“Tabula rasa”), A. Schnittke (“Concerto grosso” No. 1 is dedicated to S. Sondeckis, G. Kremer and T. Grindenko , No. 3 to S. Sondeckis and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, to the 25th anniversary of the collective), P. Vasks and others.

He participated in international competitions as a jury member, as a guest conductor of many European symphony and chamber orchestras, including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia , the Russian National Orchestra (both Moscow , Russia ), the Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic ( Russia ), the National Orchestra of Belgium ( Brussels ), Berlin Philharmonic orchestra ( Germany ), Orchester Philharmonique de Radio France ( Paris ), the Symphony orchestra of Klagenfurt ( Austria ), Orchester Philharmonique de Toro then ( Canada ), Symphony Orchestra in Bydgoszcz ( Poland ), Festival Orchestra of Budapest ( Hungary ), chamber orchestras of Lausanne ( Switzerland ), Patras ( Greece ) and other groups ^[3] .

Sondeckis was a regular participant in major music festivals. He led the Schleswig-Holstein Festival founded by L. Bernstein . At the Salzburg Festival in 1988 he conducted the ballet Othello (to the music of A. Schnittke and A. Pärt ) performed by the troupe of J. Neumeier . In 1994, he conducted opera The Magic Flute by V. A. Mozart and Orpheus and Eurydice by K. Gluck at the Mariinsky and Hermitage Theaters of St. Petersburg .

Since 1966, he has been the organizer and director of New Year’s concerts in Lithuania, open-air chamber music concerts at the Night Serenades festival in the Tyszkiewicz Palace in Palanga (since 1971 ), the chamber music festival in Vilnius, and the Šiauliai festival.

In 1987, together with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, he recorded music for the 2-episode film adaptation of V. A. Mozart ’s opera Don Juan (directed by Jonas Vaitkus ).

In January 2018, the Center for the Study of Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian Residents stated that Sondeckis, under the pseudonym Salutas, collaborated with the KGB from 1962 to 1982. The KGB tried to force Sondeckis to influence his father living in the USA so that he abandoned "anti-Soviet activities" and returned to Lithuania. In 1986, a meeting was organized between father and son in Canada , where the conductor arrived with a concert ^[4] .

• People's Artist of the Lithuanian SSR ( 1974 )
• People's Artist of the USSR ( 1980 )
• State Prize of the Lithuanian SSR ( 1971 )
• USSR State Prize ( 1987 )
• Lithuanian Government Prize in Literature and the Arts (1998)
• Lithuanian National Culture and Art Award ( 1999 )
• Cavalier of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas ( 1994 ) ^[5]
• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas ( 1997 ) ^{[6] [7]}
• Medal of Remembrance January 13 ( 2002 ) ^[8]
• Order of Honor ( July 3, 2009 , Russia ) - for his great contribution to the development of musical art, the strengthening of Russian-Lithuanian cultural ties and many years of creative activity ^[9]
• Cavalier of the Order of Merit to the Republic of Poland (1999) ^[10]
• Order of the Cross of the Land of Mary IV Degree ( Estonia , 2002) ^[11]
• Austrian badge of honor “For science and art” I degree (2003)
• Order of Denmark
• Star of the World Charity Alliance “Peacemaker” ( Moscow , 2006 )
• Honorary sign of the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania “Bring Your Light and Believe” (2013)
• The Baltic Star International Prize for the development and strengthening of humanitarian relations in the countries of the Baltic Sea region ( Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation , Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation , Committee on Culture of the Government of St. Petersburg , 2010)
• First Honorary Doctor of Siauliai University ( 1999 )
• Honorary Doctor of the Academy of Music and Theater of Lithuania ( 2003 )
• Honorary Professor of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov ( 2006 )
• Honorary member of the Lithuanian Union of Musicians
• Honorary Citizen of Šiauliai ( 2000 )
• Honorary Citizen of the Mazheik District of Lithuania ( 2004 )

Since September 1, 2010, the Šiauliai Conservatory has been named after Saulius Sondeckis ^[12] .

• Saulius Sondeckis: “I am not involved in Russian culture” // “Express Week” (Lithuania), March 2, 2009.