Giedrė Šlekytė
Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, Giedrė Šlekytė began her musical education at the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art-School in Vilnius. She went on to study conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, the Academy of Music and Theatre in Leipzig and the Zurich University of Arts.
Internationally sought after as a guest conductor, Giedrė Šlekytė has already worked with the Münchner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Swedish Radio Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Boulez-Ensemble Berlin, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, SWR Symphonieorchester, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona und Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Following a brilliant debut with the Bruckner Orchester Linz in 2019, she has been associated with them since 2021/22 as their principal guest conductor.
After her engagement as 1st Kapellmeister at Stadttheater Klagenfurt from 2016 to 2018, Giedrė Šlekytė conducted new opera productions at the Frankfurt Opera (Dialogues des Carmélites), Komische Oper Berlin (Káťa Kabanová), Bayerische Staatsoper (L’infedeltà delusa), MusikTheater an der Wien (The Cunning Little Vixen), State Opera Prague (Kleider machen Leute), Leipzig Opera (L’elisir d’amore, Schneewittchen) and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Rusalka, Werther) as well as revivals at the Semperoper Dresden (Bohème), Staatsoper unter den Linden (Zauberflöte), Bayerische Staatsoper (Traviata, Entführung aus dem Serail), Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation (Zauberflöte), Zurich Opera (Die Gezeichneten), Frankfurt Opera (Carmen), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Rigoletto) and Lithuanian National Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Bohème).
In 2023/24 she will conduct a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Danish Opera, make her debut at the Staatsoper Hamburg (Manon) and return to the Zurich Opera (Werther), Staatsoper unter den Linden (Rigoletto) und Frankfurt Opera (Entführung aus dem Serail). Symphonic engagements this season will see her conduct the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, hr-sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Staatskapelle Berlin, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, as well as the Wiener Symphoniker, both at the Musikverein and the Bregenz Festival.
In autumn 2019, Deutsche Grammophon released the portrait-CD Raminta Šerkšnytė, with Giedrė Šlekytė conducting the oratorio “Songs of Sunset and Dawn” with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.
Giedrė Šlekytė is a prize-winner of the “International Malko Competition for Young Conductors” in Copenhagen. In 2015 she was nominated for the Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award and in 2018 as “Newcomer of the year” at the International Opera Awards.