Lukas Butkus
Lukas Butkus (b. 2000) is a Lithuanian composer, pianist, harpsichordist and music critic. An active participant in Lithuania’s contemporary music scene, he has been a member of the contemporary music ensemble Artisans since 2020.
He studied composition with prof. Vaclovas Augustinas and prof. dr. Ričardas Kabelis at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he is pursuing an artistic doctorate degree under prof. dr. Mārtiņš Viļums and prof. dr. Rūta Stanevičiūtė-Kelmickienė. His first composition teacher, Vidmantas Bartulis (1954–2020), profoundly influenced his artistic development.
His tribute to Bartulis, I like Vidmantas Bartulis (Auscultare), for string orchestra and piano, was selected among the Lithuanian Composers’ Union’s fifteen outstanding works of 2023. Performed by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and subsequently by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, it represented Lithuania at the 2025 International Rostrum of Composers in Slovenia. Butkus received the Union’s Young Composer Award in 2024.
His music intertwines traditional and experimental expression, drawing on literature, theatre, philosophy, internet culture and early music. Through intertextual references and ekphrastic transformations, these sources become both creative impulses and integral elements of compositional structure. Alongside concert music, Butkus works in theatre and music theatre. His works have been performed domestically and internationally by ensembles and orchestras including the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Orkest de Ereprijs (NL), ensembles Synaesthesis, Twenty Fingers Duo, soloists of the Athelas Sinfonietta (DK) among many others. He contributes articles and reviews to the cultural press, sustaining an engagement with musical life as both artist and critic.
lukasbutkus.com
Photograph by Tomas Terekas
