Gintaras Samsonas (b. 1962) has graduated from the Juozas Gruodis High Music School, composition class of Algimantas Kubiliūnas (1980), and from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (presently the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre), composition class of Eduardas Balsys (1985). After the studies he taught theoretical subjects at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, worked at the Lithuanian Musicians’ Society and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. In 1992-4 he was Deputy Director of the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theatre; while working there he improved his skills at the courses of music management in Germany and Austria, organized by the European Academy of Music Theatre. Since 2011 Gintaras Samsonas is Director of the Foundation of Lithuanian Composers’ Union.
According to the composer, the sources of inspiration for his music come from the visual arts, fairy-tales and other literature, theatre. Although his compositions are based on constructive principles, they enable him to vividly recreate images, moods and characters that inspire him. Different stylizations of the music from the past, slight shades of irony or buffoonery are also heard in his work from time to time.
