Giedrė Šlekytė
Giedrė Šlekytė (born 1989) is a Lithuanian conductor, who works in Europe with a focus on opera. After she was one of three conductors for the "Young Conductor Award" of the Salzburg Festival in 2015, she worked at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt for two seasons. She conducted Schreker's "Die Gezeichneten" at the Opernhaus Zürich, and Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Oper Frankfurt in 2021. Life and career. Šlekytė was born in Vilnius, the daughter of a mathematician and a dentist. She and her sister sang in a children's choir, whose conductor recommended a school with  a focus on the arts. Her ambition changed from singer to dancer, to journalist, and finally to be a conductor. After studies at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art in Vilnius she studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz with and , and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig with Ulrich Windfuhr and . She spent a semester at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste with Johannes Schlaefli, sponsored by the Erasmus Programme. She took master classes with Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Colin Metters and Mario Venzago. In 2013, she was awarded second  prize at the Solon Michaelides conducting competition in Cyprus. She was nominated, along Lorenzo Viotti and Jiri Rozen, for the "Young Conductor Award" of the Salzburg Festival in 2015, and received a prize of the Malko Competition. Conducting. Šlekytė was Erste Kapellmeisterin at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt for two seasons beginning in 2016/17, conducting Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", "Die Zauberflöte" and "Don Giovanni", Lehar's "Das Land des Lächelns", Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda", Verdi's "La traviata" and Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". She conducted a performance of "Opera for Children – Die Zauberflöte", a stage adaptation for children of  Mozart's work, at the 2018 Salzburg Festival. She led both the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden for the first time in the 2018/19 season, conducting a concert at the Semperoper of works by Georges Bizet, Jukka Linkola and Mozart. She conducted Schreker's "Die Gezeichneten" in a new production by Barrie Kosky at the Opernhaus Zürich. She led the Gewandhausorchester in "Schwanensee" and Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel" at the Oper Leipzig, "Die Zauberflöte" at the Theater Basel, and Pascal Dusapin's "Perelà, uomo di fumo" at the Staatstheater Mainz. She also led the Orchestre de  Chambre de Lausanne, the Brno Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. She is the designated successor of Bruno Weil as Erste Gastdirigentin (first guest conductor) of the Bruckner Orchester Linz from the 2021/22 season.<ref name="musik-heute.de/22154"></ref> In July 2021, she made her debut with the Oper Frankfurt, conducting Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmélites". Due to restrictions in the COVID-19 pandemic, the orchestra had to be reduced to a chamber version, and the women's choir was positioned on the third tier. The conductor said in an  interview that she was a fan of stage director Claus Guth's work already before their project together.