"It was not until the third year of conducting studies at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy that I suddenly realised that singing could actually become the centre point of my professional life. I enrolled for opera singing studies and almost immediately found myself rewarded with engagements from the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and National Opera House. I also entered the XXI Century Music competition and gained 1st prize. Now I was on my path! At last I had rediscovered my magic world which takes full commitment and all my heart."
- Lauryna
"Singing has always been part of my life. I have a vivid memory of sitting on a swing and creating a song which carried me into a magic world. In fact singing was such fun that I never thought it could be real work. Studies in dancing and as an artist seemed something more serious until I could no longer hold back from music."
Lauryna Bendžiūnaitė is a Lithuanian soprano who studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy and the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Following her early appearances as a member of Vilnius City Opera and as a guest artist with the Lithuanian National Opera and the Royal Swedish Opera, she then joined the ensemble at Stutt- gart State Opera where her roles included Musetta, Ännchen, Susanna, Zerlina, Dalinda (Ariodante), Karolka and die Dirne (Reigen) under Sylvain Cambreling, Daniele Rustioni, Kyrill Kara- bits, Ben Gernon and Crystian Curnyn. For the Opéra National du Rihn she has sung the roles of Susanna and Despina.
Her concert repertoire is wide, ranging from Purcell to works of the 20th and 21st century. She has appeared with The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Orchestra and Malmö Symphony Orchestra and on tour with the Basle Chamber Orchestra in halls such as Elbphilharmonie, Laeishalle, Lucerne KKL, Dresden Frauenkirche, Stuttgart Liederhalle.
For Malmö Live, she sang Les Noçes with Robert Trevino. At the Contemporary Music Festival Gaida she gave the first Lithuanian performance of Hans Abrahams ‘Let me tell you’ with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Under Gintaras Rinkevicius and the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, she performed Schönberg’s Gurrelieder and works by Britten and Lutoslawski. She will join them this season in a performance of Carl Orff’s Trionfo di Aphrodite, Szymanowski's King Roger (as Roksana) and in Mahler's 8th Symphony (as first soprano and Magna Peccatrix).
After opening this season with Mozart’s Requiem in Pisa, she returned to the LNSO for a further performance of ‘Let me tell you’. She returned to the Hamburg Philharmonic orchestra to sing Fauré’s Requiem under Sylvain Cambreling. In Ludwigsburg at the Forum am Schlosspark she will sing a Mozart Gala with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under Christopher Schumann.
She returns to Pisa for Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang which she will also perform in Tokyo along with Psalm 42 with the Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock.
As Cultural Ambassador for Neringa Cultural Capital 2021, she launched a production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea. She follows this with an innovative programme of operas for children in association with Frederic Wake Walker’s ‘Mahogany Opera’.