(September 2025) Episode 673 is ŽIBOUKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ. At this point deep into the Project, there aren’t many artists that WOW me anymore. So it is an uplifting surprise when I discover one. Žibuoklė Martinaitytė WOWed me. She is a Lithuanian classical composer who creates works that use tension and layers that transport you to unsettling, haunting and dynamic spaces. I’m not enough of a musicologist to be able to label it, but I’ve listened to enough contemporary ‘classical’ artists to say that there is an identifiable style with common elements among several 21st century (mostly women) composers* (call it post-post-minimalism?). And Žibuoklė Martinaitytė is among them. I love her work. And I hope to dig deeper into this field.
Favorite piece: Saudade
Favorite orchestral piece: Sielunmaisema
Favorite orchestral piece: Chant des Voyelles
Favorite album: Hadal Zone
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: Start out with any of the pieces above. She has several CD-length recordings that are good compilations, including Horizons, In Search of Lost Beauty… and Ex Tenebris Lux
* Caroline Shaw, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, among others.
Opus Project 