Žilvinas Brazauskas – Klarinette
Žilvinas Brazauskas began his clarinet studies at the Kaunas J. Naujalis music school. Soon after, first prizes and other awards in national and international competitions marked an early beginning to his solo career, allowing him to play with such orchestras as the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and the Lithuanian Symphony Orchestra.
His first CD as a guest with the Kaunas String Quartet was released in 2009 (V. Bartulis – „The Coming One“), and a second CD, which included his recording of Rossini's variations for clarinet and orchestra with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra was released a year later.
In 2010, Žilvinas began his studies with Prof. Sabine Mayer at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, where he appeared in the Brahms Festival Lübeck, in the Mendelssohn-Halle in Hamburg, and a live performance on NDR Kultur Radio. He completed an ERASMUS semester at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris in 2015.
Žilvinas was first prize winner of the prestigious “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb” in Berlin, where he also won a special prize from the “Freunde Junge Musiker” association. Two CDs dedicated to clarinet and piano repertoire, with pianist Violetta Khachikyan, were released in 2016 as a part of the prize.
In 2017, he was a prizewinner of the International Clarinet Competition in Ghent, performing the final round with the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Antonio Saiote. 2017 also marked the release of his Trio Agora’s first CD, “Youth,” and of his debut in the Berliner Philharmonie with percussionist Peter Fleckenstein.
Žilvinas currently studies with Martin Spangenberg and Raf Forster at the Hanns Eisler conservatory in Berlin.