Mykolas Natalevičius (b. 1985) is a young Lithuanian composer active in various fields of music, from the acoustic instrumental music to the experimental electronics. His work involves composing, playing piano, singing and conducting. According to composer, music was not his initial field of creativity. He began his creative path in the fine arts, successfully participating in various art exhibitions and competitions, and started his music studies at the age of sixteen. He studied composition (with Prof. Vytautas Barkauskas and Ričardas Kabelis) at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, graduating in 2011. He also attended singing (Deividas Staponkus and Algirdas Janutas) and symphonic conducting (Gintaras Rinkevičius) lessons. In 2010 Mykolas Natalevičius studied at the Danish Institue of Electronic Music with Henrik Munch, also attended singing class at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus with Ingrid Haking Raby. In 2011, his Kampana for symphony orchestra won the Debut Prize at the annual Best Works of the Year awards of the Lithuanian Composers' Union. In 2012 he was awarded the Young Artist Prize by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.
Mykolas is interested in the possibilities of synthesis of music and other arts. He is a member of the artist group Operomanija. In 2008 the composer was awarded (together with his fellow composers from the New Opera Action) the prize for the best stage work at the annual Lithuanian Composers’ Union competition. He also writes music for drama performances (in 2008, at the 9th International University Theatre Forum Traces of Generation, he received the award for music for the drama performance Return) and films (the work of video artist Rimas Sakalauskas and Mykolas Natalevičius Synchronisation was awarded in seven international competitions and was presented in fourty various festivals and exhibitions around the world).
The work by Mykolas Natalevičius might be divided into two parts: the music of ‘new spirituality’ and experimental electronics, which is often combined with various expressions of human voice. The first creative tendency springs from the straightforward and fundamental relation of the composer towards religion and is represented by choral works with Latin texts, homophonic texture and tonal harmony, sometimes resembling Palestrinian choral writing. Another side of Mykolas Natalevičius is disclosed in, for example, short operas distinguished for their borderline sonic experiences (sine tones, noise: electronic or produced by a crowd of performers; sounds existing on the verge of frequency range perceived by the human ear), radically reduced musical material and expressive recitation of the soloists.
