Leaders
RŪTA PRUSEVIČIENĖ (born 1968) studied musicology at the Lithuanian State Conservatoire (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) under the Academician Juozas Gaudrimas. From 1991 to 1997, she served as a senior specialist in the Music Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, and later as a senior specialist and head of the Department for International Relations. Since August 1997, she has worked at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society. In January 2001, she was appointed Deputy Director General for Artistic Affairs at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society. In October 2006, she was appointed Director General of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society.
From 1992 to 2001, she coordinated Lithuanian Culture Days at EXPO 1992 in Seville (Spain), in the State of Brandenburg (Germany), in Tampere (Finland), and at EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Germany). From 1997 to 2002, she organised and coordinated concerts by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in Germany, and concerts by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Slovenia, Norway and other European countries. From 2002 to 2003, she coordinated and implemented the two-year Swedish–Lithuanian musical exchange program ‘Musical Links: Sweden–Lithuania’; from 2003 to 2005, she implemented bilateral exchange programs with Poland, Latvia and Norway. In addition to classical concerts, she organised concerts in Lithuania by jazz performers such as McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Al Di Meola, Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, as well as the bands Maraca’s Otra Visión, Brass Brothers and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Prusevičienė undertook further training in various cultural management courses and seminars: intensive courses in cultural management at the Salzburg International Academy of Cultural Management (Austria, 1994), the International Performing Arts Management program in the USA (1996), a seminar The Philosophy and Practice of Festivals organised by the Soros Foundation and the UK’s ‘Visiting Arts’ in Budapest (Hungary, 1998), an educational seminar organised in Berlin by the Goethe-Institut on the activities and funding of cultural institutions at various levels in Germany (Germany, 2001), the seminar Arts and Business: Creative Partnership in Cambridge (UK, 2002), and undertook an internship at Europe’s largest music agency, ‘IMG Artists’, in London (UK, 2004).
Since 2002, Prusevičienė has been a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA), representing the Vilnius Festival. From 2002 to 2004, she represented the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society at the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), in 2005 – at conferences of the International Artist Managers’ Association (IAMA) and the Performing Arts Employers Associations League Europe (PEARLE), as well as in 2006 – at the MIDEM International Music Industry Fair.
In recognition of her significant cultural contributions, Prusevičienė has been decorated with prestigious Lithuanian and foreign honours:
2008 – Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau of the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
2010 – Award ‘For Services to Polish Culture’ from Bogdan Zdrojewski, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, on the occasion of the International Year of Fryderyk Chopin;
2013 – Commander of the Order of the Star of Italy, conferred by Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic;
2014 – Commemorative Medal from His Excellency the President of the Republic of Lithuania for the successful organisation of events during Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union;
16 February 2016 – Knight’s Cross of the Order ‘For Merits to Lithuania’, presented by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Lithuania;
3 May 2019 – Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland;
29 September 2026 – Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) of France.
PREVIOUS LEADERS
Directors:
Jonas Kardelis (1940–1941)
Jonas Lenktaitis (1941–1943)
Vytautas Pečiūra (1944–1945)
Povilas Sagaitis (1945–1949)
Boleslovas Fedaravičius (1949–1970)
Dainius Trinkūnas (1970–1973)
Pinchosas Mendelsonas (1973–1974 ir 1979–1985)
Gintautas Želvys (1975)
Rimvydas Žigaitis (1975–1978)
Algirdas Budrys (1986–1988)
Artistic Directors:
Michailas Šteimanas (1944–1947)
Boleslovas Fedaravičius (1947–1963)
Rimvydas Žigaitis (1963–1986)
Directors General:
Gintautas Kėvišas (1988–2000)
Egidijus Mikšys (2001–2006)