Algis Henrikas Žiūraitis (born on 27 July 1928 in Raseiniai – died on 25 October 1998 in Moscow) was a Lithuanian conductor.  He was a talented artist, a professional musician who did not limit himself to national boundaries and having moved closer to Russian culture worked at the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) for nearly four decades. ‘Musical heritage’, he said ‘can belong neither to me nor to anyone else. If I am a musician, it means that all music belongs to me’.

Algis Žiūraitis was born on 27 July 1928 in Raseiniai into a family of teachers. He grew together with his sister Nijolė Ona and brother Kastytis Kazimieras. Their parents Marcelė and Marcelius Žiūraičiai were musical; father could play the violin and mother sang, was a soloist in a choir conducted by Stasys Šimkus, so the children were taught music from their early childhood. Playing music at home was a tradition cherished by the family and the kinfolk; music was played at family gatherings, during different celebrations. In 1942, after the family moved to Kauną, Algis attended Kaunas High School, continued his music studies taking Marija Alšlebėnaitė’s private classes. After the war he entered the Kaunas Conservatory, Statys Vainiūnas’ piano class and in 1950 graduated from the Vilnius Conservatory with honours. In 1947, he became a concertmaster at the Opera Studio of the Conservatory.  In 1950, having refused the offer to continue his studies in post-graduate courses in Moscow and thinking of the profession of a conductor, he became employed as a pianist assistant in the Opera and Ballet Theatre.  In 1951, Mykolas Bukša noticed his talent and encouraged him to try his hand at the conductor’s stand. Algis Žiūraitis successfully made his debut in conducting Stanisław Moniuszko’s opera Halka. Between 1951 and 1954, Algis Žiūraitis was a conductor at the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theatre. Though he had not learned conducting yet, he distinguished himself for his inborn artistry, musicality, and the ability to understand dramaturgy of the composition and to comprehend the whole.

In 1954, Algis Žiūraitis entered the Moscow Conservatory named after Pyotr Tchaikovky, a conducting class led by Prof. Nikolai Anosov. Prof. Nikolai Anosov said about his pupil the following: ‘I have not had such a pupil as Algis for a long time and will not have soon. It was a real pleasure to work with him. He used to prepare one or sometimes even two symphonies every week by heart! Excellent memory, industriousness, temperament, a receptive mind.’ (Algis Žiūraitis, V., 1996).
While studying at the Conservatory, in 1955–1960, Algis Žiūraitis was an orchestra conductor-assistant of the Great Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Television, in 1958, he became the conductor of ‘Mosconcert’.
Upon graduating from the Conservatory in 1958, he associated his life with the Bolshoi Theatre and in 1960, Algis Žiūraitis became the conductor of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. He made his debut at the Theatre with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Swan Lake. Soon he earned recognition, and at the beginning of his career as a conductor he was already touring with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter. In 1968, Algis Žuraitis became a laureate of the International Conducting Competition at the Music Academy of Santa Cecilia (Rome).

The largest part of Maestro’s creative activities is related to ballet art. He conducted almost all ballet repertoire of the Bolshoi Theatre. Algis Žuraitis prepared new productions of 20 ballets and 5 operas. Among the best productions were Sergei Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, Romeo and Juliet, Alexander Glazunov’s ballet Raymonda, Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Swan Lake. In 1977, he was awarded the USSR State Prize for Andrei Eshpai ballet Angara.
He retuned to the opera more often during the last decades of his life. He conducted the following operas: Giuseppe Verdi’s operas A Masked Ball, Aida, Pietro Mascagni’s opera The Country Code of Honour, Ruggero Leoncavallo Pagliacci, Jules Massenet’s opera Verters, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s operas Mazeppa, The Queen of Spades, Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen.
He was an upholder of classical music, assessed critically the attempts of contemporary artistic direction to distort the initial idea of the composition. ‘Conducting is a mission, a unique profession because the conductor is a mediator between the creator and the listener. (…) There is no greater happiness than happiness that you feel when opening the score of the worshiped creator, so that you could be filled with the spirit of the author and his composition actualising it better with the help of your creative imagination. And there is no greater crime than indifference, all the more, than disrespect for the genius’ masterpiece.’ (Algis Žiūraitis, 1996)

In 1976, Algis Žiūraitis was invited to Paris Grand Opera to produce Sergei Prokofiev’s Ivan The Terrible. He conducted The Swan Lake in Rome Opera, Romeo and Juliet in Grand Opera Paris, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Leipzig, The Queen of Spades, Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos in Munich, Pietro Mascagni’s opera The Country Code of Honour, Ruggero Leoncavallo Pagliacci in Parma.
Algis Žiūraitis toured Russia, all over the Soviet Union, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Japan, Egypt, Canada, the USA. He conducted orchestras of different countries – France, Italy, Japan, Germany (Gewandhaus), England (BBC) and others.
He went on tours with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Tatjana Grindenko, Nikolai Giaurov, Jelena Obrazcova.
In April of 1997, he conducted the orchestra at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre for the last time. Pyotr Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, Carl Maria von Weber Invitation to the Dance, Maurice Raveli La Valse (The Waltz) and Richard Strauss Waltz sequences from the opera The Knight and the Rose were performed.
The Lithuanian press wrote the following about that concert:
‘A mischievous flight, playful brilliance intertwined with joyful dizziness, dreamful sighs, and bright playful colours interlaced with pastel shades. Skilfully chosen tempos rendered a flight, intoxicating raging to music. The inner passion of the conductor controlled the orchestra, infected the musicians and listeners with the thrills of dancing.’    (Valiulytė, 1997)
Algis Žiūraitis was an original, ever-searching conductor who managed skilfully to combine creative freedom and a strict professional discipline, to create a creative atmosphere during everyday rehearsals of the orchestra. Great emotionality, live tempos, sharpness of the rhythm, the strictly foreseen entirety of the composition and an analytical viewpoint were characteristic of Žiūraitis’ interpretation of a piece of music. Colleagues valued Algis Žiūraitis’ comprehensive erudition, intellect, his conducting skill, devotion to creative work, enormous artistry and elegance. At the same time he was high-principled, demanding perfection of himself and others, a man who could not tolerate cunning and ploy. (Algis Žiūraitis, 2005, p. 6)
Agis Žiūraitis died on 25 October 1998 in Moscow. He is buried not far from Moscow, in the cemetery of the village of Aksinji.

Prepared by Aldona Juodelienė

Sources:
Algis Žiūraitis. Laiškai, prisiminimai / parengė Audronė Žiūraitytė. Vilnius, Lietuvos muzikų sąjunga, 2005, 128 p.
Algis Žiūraitis / su dirigentu ir jo kolegomis kalbėjosi Audronė Žiūraitytė. Vilnius, Lietuvos kompozitorių sąjunga, 1996, 144 p.
Aleknaitė-Bieliauskienė Rita. Prie dirigento pulto – Algis Žiūraitis. Literatūra ir menas, 1997, gegužės 3 d.
Atversti partitūros puslapiai. A. Žiūraitytės pokalbis su A. Žiūraičiu. Literatūra ir menas, 1992, lapkričio 21 d.
Augulytė Milda. A. Žiūraitis: pats geriausias dirigentas yra tylintis. Lietuvos rytas, 1997 balandžio 30 d.
Bakučionis Tomas. A. Žiūraičiui pakluso vulkaniški proveržiai ir žaismė. Lietuvos rytas, 1997, gegužės 2 d, p. 32
Dirigentą Algį Žiūraitį prisimenant / parengė A. Žiūraitytė. Literatūra ir menas, 2003 gruodžio 12 d.
Markeliūnienė Vytautė. Algio Žiūraičio laiškai ir prisiminimai (Žvilgsnis į epistolinį kūrėjų palikimą įamžinančius leidinius).7 meno dienos, 2006 sausio 6 d.
Markeliūnienė Vytautė. Algį Žiūraitį prisiminus. 7 meno dienos, 1999 lapkričio 26 d.
Markeliūnienė Vytautė. Algis Žiūraitis: Lietuvoje jau lyg ir nesvas, bet ir Rusijoje – tarsi svetimas. Lietuvos aidas, 1997 04 30, Nr. 83
Valiulytė Skirmantė. Po 15 metų vėl Lietuvoje. 7 meno dienos, 1997, gegužės 9 d. p. 3
Žiūraitytė Audronė. Žiūraitis Algis Henrikas. Muzikos enciklopedija, T. 3, Vilnius, 2007, p.689

‘A mischievous flight, playful brilliance intertwined with joyful dizziness, dreamful sighs, and bright playful colours interlaced with pastel shades. Skilfully chosen tempos rendered a flight, intoxicating raging to music. The inner passion of the conductor controlled the orchestra, infected the musicians and listeners with the thrills of dancing.’ 

(Valiulytė Skirmantė. Po 15 metų vėl Lietuvoje. 7 meno dienos, 1997, gegužės 9 d., p. 3)

‘Conducting is a mission, a unique profession because the conductor is a mediator between the creator and the listener. (…) There is no greater happiness than happiness that you feel when opening the score of the worshiped creator, so that you could be filled with the spirit of the author and his composition actualising it better with the help of your creative imagination. And there is no greater crime than indifference, all the more, than disrespect for the genius’ masterpiece.’ –

Algis Žiūraitis (From: Algis Žiūraitis. Vilnius, Lietuvos kompozitorių sąjunga,1996)