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Vytautas Jurgutis (1930-2013) studied choir conducting at the Lithuanian State Conservatoire (presently Lithuanian Academy of Music) and later moved on to study composition with Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas, which he graduated from in 1960. In 1960-74 he was head of the Music Theory Department at the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute (presently Vilnius Pedagogical University). From 1968 to 2000 he taught music theory at the Lithuanian Academy of Music (he became senior lecturer in 1973 and professor in 1990). In 1976 the composer was awarded the state prize for the oratorio "Donelaitis". In 1969 works by Jurgutis were performed in festivals in Poland (Wrozlaw, Szczecin).
Vytautas Jurgutis' music is dominated by vocal and chamber instrumental genres. Various compositional techniques - dodecaphony, aleatory, sonoristic effects - are combined with tonality and polytonality. In his music there are evident links with the elements of Lithuanian folk music: the composer uses trichordal intonations, rhythms and harmonies of the old Lithuanian polyphonic songs sutartinės, combining them with the above mentioned 20th century techniques. Polyphonic and polymetric writing is also characteristic of most of Jurgutis' compositions.
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