Jonė Punytė Svigarienė

Lecturer at the LMTA Department of Accompaniment. Subjects: Accompaniment, Reading Sheet Music and Transposition, History of the Piano Art, Interpretation. Languages: English (C1), German (C1), Russian (C2).

Jonė Punytė, a pianist, an accompanist, and a lecturer at the LMTA Department of Accompaniment where she has been teaching since 2011. She is also on the staff at the Departments of Vocal Performance, String Instruments, and Wind and Percussion Instruments where she works as a chief accompanist. In that capacity, Jonė Punytė is regularly invited to perform in international competitions in Lithuania and abroad.

Jonė Punytė is eager to share her professional experience with high school teachers and students: she is a teacher and methodologist at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art. Apart from giving lessons, she also leads the research and methodology circle of accompanists for the schoolteachers.

The pianist graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in the classes of Professor Olga Šteinberg and Professor Veronika Vitaitė. In 2001-2006, she continued to hone her skills as an intern at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (Germany) with Professor Konrad Richter and Professor Cornelis Witthoefft. At the same time, Jonė Punytė studied the technique nuances of playing the Hammerklavier — the authentic early piano at the Trossingen University School of Music (Germany) under the supervision of Professor Eckart Sellheim.

Jonė Punytė’s participation at various competitions has been a huge success:  she took the 1st place in the competition for chamber ensembles in Vilnius (2000) and the 2nd place in the 1st Vilnius International Competition for Singers and Accompanists (2005). At the 6th International Chamber Music Competition Franz Schubert and Modern Music in Graz (Austria), the pianist received the first award and a special prize for the best performed contemporary piece in the category of Lied (with Japanese soprano Wakako Nakaso, 2006).

Jonė Punytė has taken part in festivals in Lithuania, Germany, and Italy; she has appeared on the stage together with the LMTA Orchestra and Vytautas Magnus University Orchestra. The pianist dedicates herself to chamber music, especially the Lied genre, and has performed with singer Wakako Nakaso (Japan) and other stage partners in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Lithuania.