Neda Malūnavičiūtė (b. 1971) has a uniquely emotional performing style, which is provocative, spontaneous and full of vitality and on the other hand, intimately mild. She develops the mainstream tradition and employs her voice as an equal element of an ensemble.
From her childhood she took improvisation lessons from Vladimir Chekasin, later she studied flute at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. She made her debut on jazz stage in 1988 with the Youth Jazz Ensemble led by Vladimir Chekasin. Since then she has performed with nearly all Lithuanian jazz musicians, making the most important appearances with such groups as NNB, Artūras Anusauskas Quintet, Gone With Jazz, Vilnius Jazz Quartet, Vytautas Labutis Octet, Dainius Pulauskas Sextet, Leonid Shinkarenko Jazz 4. She has been featured by the international projects with Michail Finberg Big Band (Byelorussia), Daniil Kramer Trio (Russia), Bernd Homann Quartet (Germany), Kestutis Stančiauskas and his group Streetdancer (USA), Raivo Tafenau Group (Estonia-Finland-Lithuania) and others. She has performed in the USA with different groups and has been featured by the famous European jazz festivals, the Imatra (1994), Tampere (1995), Pori (2000).
In 1994 Neda won the Grand Prix of the International Vocalists Competition in Białystok (Poland). In 1999, together with Dainius Pulauskas Sextet, she won the Grand Prix of the Yesterday Pärnu International Competition in Estonia. In 1997 she received the Bravo Award for her achievements as a pop singer.
© Jūratė Kučinskaitė
