"... Dynamism and power of Mahler’s fifth movement Rondo-finale. Allegro giocoso. Frisch leads the audience into catharsis. The orchestra is totally dedicated to music. It sparkles with all kinds of nuances and colours, and the mastery of individual performers creates an overall canvas of impressive sound. Modestas Pitrėnas is the axis of all events of the symphony. Though his merging with the orchestra is absolute, as an experienced conductor he always has a firm grip and control on each sound and dramatic line. His excellent manual technique ensures the precision of his gestures. Though seething with emotions, he does not lose his common sense and the pulse of the music for a single moment…"

7 meno dienos, 2004

 

Modestas Pitrėnas is one of the most accomplished and well-known young Lithuanian conductors. He studied choral, opera and orchestral conducting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre under Prof. Lionginas Abarius and Prof. Juozas Domarkas. In 1995–6 he pursued his conducting studies at the famous Salzburg school of music and visual arts Mozarteum with Professors Walter Hagen-Groll and Karl Kamper. Later he participated in seminars and master courses held by famous conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jorma Panula, Helmut Rilling and others.

 

"...The whirls of Modestas Pitrėnas’ imagination and temperament, his attentiveness to the score determined the energetic flow of music, the proportions of its individual parts and the dynamic of contrasts. <...> The future prospect of Pitrėnas’ professional career will probably include more than one score by Gustav Mahler (and not only by him), whose interpretational content will be undoubtedly formed and ripened by the growing experience, skills and horizons of repertoire of this brave and ambitious conductor…"

Literatūra ir menas, 2004

 

Despite his young age, Modestas Pitrėnas has a considerable working experience with various music groups. At the age of sixteen, he founded the Psalmos Choir. Under his artistic leadership the choir went on several tours in Europe and the US, and won prizes at many international choral competitions and festivals. The conductor himself won several highest distinctions at the international choral conducting competitions: in 2003 he won the 1st prize and gold medal at the 7th Grzegorz Fitelberg Conducting Competition in Poland, which provided him with the possibility to appear as a guest conductor with the leading Polish orchestras.

 

"... Modestas Pitrėnas is very artistic. His artistry is natural, undirected, penetrating from the inside and always creating consonance with the music. This rare quality, highly estimated by the listeners, takes hold of them instantly…"

7 meno dienos, 2004

 

In recent years Modestas Pitrėnas focuses especially on cooperation with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, with which he has prepared the critically acclaimed programmes including large compositions by Witold Lutosławski, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy, which led to his appointment as Assistant Conductor in 2004. The conductor has also prepared many concerts together with the Lithuanian State, the Lithuania Minor, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre symphony orchestras and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. Since 2000 Modestas Pitrėnas has conducted performances of Georges Bizet’s Carmen and Kurt Weill’s The Threepeny Opera at the Klaipėda Music Theatre, and collaborated with the Youth Orchestra of the Land of Nordrhein-Westfalen.