Vilmantas Kaliunas – born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and now based in Hamburg – is a conductor who not only seeks musical energy but makes it palpable. Rooted in a family of organists, visual artists, and musicians, creativity has always been a vital part of his life.

He began playing piano at the age of four, followed by the oboe at twelve – an instrument that quickly led him to professional maturity. While still studying at the Hochschule für Musik Saar, he became principal oboist of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Yet soon, the desire grew not just to participate in sound, but to shape it.

This led him to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar – the beginning of a remarkable artistic journey. Today, Vilmantas Kaliunas collaborates with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Hamburg State Opera, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, and many others.

He was deeply influenced by encounters with great musical figures – including Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, and Manfred Honeck – from whom he says, with gratitude, he had the privilege to learn. These experiences shaped not only his musical style but his approach: open, curious, and profoundly searching.

“I am always looking for life energy in music,” says Vilmantas Kaliunas. And this very energy defines his artistic voice – clear, captivating, and alive. For him, conducting is more than technique: it is an act of connection – between musicians and audience, music and the present moment, human and sound.