Dainius Pavilionis (b. 1977) started a musician’s career at the Marijampolė Music School where he studied piano. In 1989 he became a laureate of Balys Dvarionas Piano Competition. In 1992-96 he studied choir conducting at Kaunas Juozas Gruodis Conservatoire. In 1996 he entered the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (studied choir conducting with Prof. Povilas Gylys). In 2002 he finished his postgraduate studies and was awarded an MA diploma. Then he studied opera and symphony conducting with Prof. Juozas Domarkas; he finished his studies in 2006 and was awarded another MA diploma. In 2002 he participated in Erasmus conducting courses. In 2006 he became a laureate of the international IV Witold Lutoslawski Young Conductors Competition in Bialystok (Poland) and won the 3rd prize. After the competition he was offered to conduct philharmonic orchestras of Bialystok, Čenstachova, Olstyn, Kalis and Podlaska.
The young conductor attracted the attention of Lithuanian audiences early. He has been invited to conduct the most important Lithuanian orchestras: Lithuanian National Symphony, Lithuanian State Symphony, Klaipėda State Musical Theatre Choir and Orchestra. He has conducted operas at the Klaipėda Musical Theatre: staged and conducted the ballet by I. Morozov Doctor Aibolit. Together with the students of the Opera Studio he has prepared and conducted: Otto Nikolai’s opera The Merry Wives of Windsor, G. Puccini’s opera Sister Angelica and I. Kalman’s operetta Countess Maritza. He conducts the concert performance of The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky; also family concerts of the Lithuanian National Orchestra.

Pavilionis has given concerts together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra in Poland: Warsaw Witold Lutoslawski Hall and Torun. He leads the Choir of the Song and Dance Ensemble of Vilnius University, the teachers’ ensemble Versmė of Vilnius Teachers House.

In 2007 he became the second conductor of The Guard of Honour Orchestra of the Lithuanian Army. Currently he lectures at the Conducting Department of the LAMT.

The second part of the concert was of a completely different kind: we heard a suite from the ballet The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and Three Dances from the ballet The Three-cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). When compared to the conceptual first part, particularly rich in musical ideas, ballet music of the second part, performed not in an opera theatre and without the main characters – the dancers, the mise-en-scene, action and spectacle – sounded even more declarative and illustrative. A programme of completely new opuses prepared in four days required a lot of energy from the young conductor, but it was returned to the audience with a bonus.

Daiva Tamošaitytė, Muzikos barai, 20 05 2007

The performance was conducted also by a student, a third year student of Prof. Juozas Domarkas, Dainius Pavilionis. I have to admit that the conductor really ‘got it under control’, although this is not easy even to an experienced artist.

Aušra Motuzienė, “Surprises from the Opera Department: Operas by Students of the Lithuanian Academy of Music” (“Operos katedros siurprizai, Lietuvos muzikos akademijos studentų operiniai darbai”), 7 meno dienos, 20 06 2003