Balys Dvarionas, the Lithuanian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher, continued the tradition established by the founders of the Lithuanian national composition school, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and Juozas Gruodis, and considered Lithuanian folk music as an important source for inspiration. "Music should have a smell…, the smell of its native land," he liked to say. Balys Dvarionas' oeuvre embraces music of various genres (opera, ballet, symphony, concertos, overtures, chamber works, music for film and theatre). He is credited for writing one of the first Lithuanian ballets, and first violin concerto.
