Martynas Staškus is the conductor of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, principal conductor and artistic director of the Vilnius Teachers House choir Salutaris and winner of international competitions.

M.Staškus (b. 1969) graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in 1994 where he studied choir, orchestra and opera conducting (with G.Rinkevičius). The same year he started working as the conductor’s assistant at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, since 1996 he has been the conductor of this theatre, in 1997 – 1998, principal conductor. M.Staškus is the winner of two international conducting competitions: he was awarded the first prizes at the International J. Naujalis Choir Conducting Competition, Vilnius, and in 1991, at the International Choir Conducting Competition in Wrozlaw (Poland).

His repertoire includes over 40 operatic works such as Verdi "Nabucco", "Macbeth", "Aida", "Otello", "La Traviata", "Un Ballo in Maschera", "La Forza del Destino", Puccini "Tosca", "Gianni Schicchi", "Suor Angelica", "Turandot", "Madama Butterfly", Halevy "La Juive", Strauss "Wiener Blut", Mozart "Entführung aus dem Serail", "Don Giovanni", "Le nozze di Figaro", Weber "Der Freischütz", Gounod "Faust", Gaižauskas "Buratino", Britten "Let’s Make an Opera!", Gluck "Orfeo ed Euridice" etc.; ballets Theodarakis "Zorba the Greek", Tchaikovsky "The Nutcracker", Bizet–Shchedrin "Carmen", Mendelssohn – Bartholdy "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet", A. L. Minkus "La Bayadere", H. Lovenskjold "La Sylphide", A. Adam "Giselle", etc.; many works of symphonic, chamber and choral music by Beethoven, Ravel, Mozart, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Haydn, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and others.

In 1993 M. Staškus founded the chamber choir Salutaris. The repertoire of the choir includes opuses by classic Western European composers (S.Bach, W.A.Mozart, G.B.Pergolesi, G.Faure) and Lithuanian composers. With the chamber choir Salutaris M.Staškus has participated and won awards in international competitions for choirs: Guido d’Arezzo (Arezzo, Italy, 1993, 3rd prize); Florilege vocal de Tours (Tours, France, 1994, special prize); Choir competition at the Song Festival of Lithuanians of the World (1994, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2nd prize and special prize); 10th S.Šimkus Choir Competition (1995, Klaipėda, Lithuania, first prize and special prize); International Choir Competition in Miltenberg (1996, Germany, 2nd prize).

M.Staškus has given concerts with such world famous performers as opera singers I. Mukhamedov, Y.Yebra, B. Maisuradze and E. Rubin, V. Urmana, E. Montvidas, pianists K. Broya, A. Paley, violinist G. Kremer. The conductor has prepared concert programmes with Kremerata Baltica,  International Nordic-Baltic Youth Chamber Orchestra, Nordrhein-Westfalen youth symphony orchestra, Lithuanian Academy of Music, Vilnius and Lithuanian Chamber Orchestras, Lithuanian State and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestras.

His stage partnerships include those with renowned stage directors Jonas Jurašas, Gintaras Varnas, Jonas Vaitkus, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Gunter Kramer, Monika Wiesler, Detlef Soelter, Anthony Minghella, choreographers Vesta Grabštaitė, Anželika Cholina, Andrej Melanjin, Krzysztof Pastor and Boris Eifman emong others.

M.Staškus has participated in international music festivals in Lithuania and abroad, among them: Gaida, Schubert-Haydn, Vilnius, Trakai Festivals and Incontri Corali di Alba-93, XI Passegna Internazionale di Canto Corale (Italy). Together with the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theatre, other orchestras and choir M.Staškus toured Holland, Germany, Italy, Estonia, France, Denmark, Taiwan, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden etc.