Muza Rubackyté - Pianist

from the Years of Pilgrimage cycle to work for piano by Čiurlionis,

MŪZA meets all the challenges with elegance and total commitment.

Mūza was born in Lithuania and lives between Paris, Vilnius, and Geneva.

After studying at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow she was a prizewinner at the famous All Union competition in St Petersburg designed to elect the best musicians in the USSR, and then the Grand Prize at the Budapest Liszt-Bartók International Piano Competition. Mūza joined the Lithuanian resistance, which led to her being denied a passport until 1989. As soon as she arrived in Paris, she won the first prize for piano in the international competition “Les Grands Maîtres Français” organised by the Triptyque Association.

Her international career has taken her to recitals and concertos on major stages and festivals in France and on all five continents, where she has crossed paths with renowned conductors and orchestras.

The composer K. Penderecki has regularly invited her to perform his piano concerto Resurrection, a poignant work in tribute to the victims of 11 September.
Mūza is frequently asked to participate in juries for the most prestigious competitions and teaches internationally.

In Lithuania, she has received prestigious awards including the Légion d'Honneur for promoting her country to the world and the Grand Commander's Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great for services to the State.

The Hungarian Ministry of Culture awarded her the Pro Cultura Hungarica prize, and she chairs the Lithuanian Liszt Society LISZtuania.

In 2009 Mūza created the Vilnius International Piano Festival, of which she is artistic director. For this achievement, the City of Vilnius honoured her with its highest award: the Saint Christopher for best cultural event. The next edition will be held in November 2025.

In 2020/22 Mūza  payed tribute to his compatriot, the pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky, on stage and on record, to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth near Vilnius. In the 20th century, many "Litvaks" (Lithuanian Jews) went into exile, like Godowsky, who died in New York in 1938.

Mūza's repertoire spans more than forty recital-, concerto- and chamber music programs. He discography of over thirty-five titles is regularly expanded: Années de Pèlerinage and Etudes de Concert by Liszt (Lyrinx), 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich (Brilliant Classics), concertos for piano and orchestra by Beethoven, Liszt, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Schnittke, Saint-Saëns, Bartok, Liszt, Schubert/Liszt, Brahms for the Great Lithuanian live recordings series (Doron), Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 chamber version, and works for solo piano by Louis Vierne (2015) then with string quartet and voice (2016, Brilliant Classics). Since 2017 she has recorded Julius Reubke's Sonatas for piano and organ with Olivier Vernet for the Ligia label, followed by a tribute to Shostakovich and Weinberg entitled Dramatic Russian Legacy with the Mettis Quartet. In 2020, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth near Vilnius, Mūza pays tribute to his compatriot Leopold Godowsky, both on stage and on record. This recording, which also includes Preludes by Karol Szymanowsky, has received numerous awards, including Télérama ffff, Diapason d'Or, CLASSICA 5 *****. It was followed in 2022 by a second volume, Valses Impressions, for which Muza invited the Russian violinist Dmitri Makhtin to join her in a duo.

As a convinced and revered Liszt interpreter, she won the 41st Grand Prix of the Franz Liszt Society in Budapest for her Schubert/Liszt recording “De la valse à l'abîme” (Lyrinx).
                                                                                                                                                                                          
In 2021 was the publication of her autobiographical book, “Née sous un piano”, (born under a piano), a sensitive account of her life as an artist and committed woman (published by Ovadia).

In 2024, in addition to her concerts around the world, she will be the ambassador for the music of her native country as part of the program: “Season of Lithuania in France”, supported by the French and Lithuanian Cultural Institutes, from 12 September to 12 December 2024. It will also mark the release of the documentary film  called “Mūza”.

Janvier 2024-CKSM

LEARN MORE ON: www.muza.fr