Vytautas Juozapaitis (b. 1963) is one of the most remarkable baritones of Lithuania, the singer whose voice could be heard in many musical events and during almost all premieres of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre (LNOBT).
After having graduated from his vocal studies with Prof. V. Prudnikovas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music in 1989, V. Juozapaitis made his debut with Freddie’s part in the operetta "My Fair Lady" by F. Loewe in Kaunas Musical Theatre; in 1990, he sang the part of Wolfram in R. Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Since 1990, V. Juozapaitis has been working as a solo singer at the LNOBT; since 1996, he has also been teaching solo singing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music.

The singer won the first prize during the Competition of Lithuanian Vocalists in 1992. The year 1993 was particularly memorable: he was awarded a diploma at the International Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition in Philadelphia (USA). The same year V. Juozapaitis studied with Marlen Malas in New York (USA) and with the Finnish baritone Tom Krause. Several years in a row the singer participated in the projects of the European Centre for Opera and Vocal Art (E.C.O.V.) based in Belgium: he prepared parts of Don Giovanni (in W. A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, 1993) and Escamillo (G. Bizet’s Carmen, 1995), participated in Gala concert in the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie 1994). Don Giovanni performed by V. Juozapaitis in Prague, Czech National Opera Theatre, and while touring with this theatre in Japan (1994 – 1995) was widely acclaimed.

V. Juozapaitis has been singing in almost all recent productions of LNOBT. His repertoire consists of more than twenty roles, among them Enrico (G. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor), Baron and Germont (G. Verdi’s La traviata), Scarpia (G. Puccini’s Tosca), Amonasro (G. Verdi’s Aida), Don Carlo and Marquis de Posa (G. Verdi’s Don Carlo) and Rigoletto (G. Verdi’s Rigoletto). The part of Guglielmo in W. A. Mozart’s opera Cosi fan tutte is among most remarkable recent works of V. Juozapaitis, which was produced specifically for the Vilnius Festival ’98 as an international project. For this part, the singer was awarded the statue of „Christopher” in 1999.

V. Juozapaitis’s repertoire includes many baritone parts in oratories such as Carmina Burana by C. Orff, Ein Deutches Requiem by J. Brahms, War Requiem by B. Britten, Stabat Mater by F. Schubert and Era di Aguarius by S. Gubaidulina. In 1992, during the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Germany) the performance of the latter opus was conducted by M. Rostropovich.

The singer has been giving concerts in Lithuania and abroad: he toured Austria, Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic, India, Nepal, Japan, Norway, Poland, USA, Spain, Russia, Germany, Latvia, Estonia and Canada. He participated in famous festivals such as New and Old Roads in India (Spain, 1992), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany, 1992), Savonlinna Opera (Finland, 1993), Salzburger Festspiele (Austria, 1994), Wrozlaw Oratory Music (Poland, 1993), Symposium-Festival of French Composers of Contemporary Music Montpelior '93, F. Schubert – J. Haydn festivals (Lithuania, 1992, 1997), Vilnius and Pažaislis festivals.

The soloist has collaborated with famous foreign and Lithuanian conductors: Mstislav Rostropovich, Eduard Muller, David Agler, Pinchas Steinberg, Ch. von Dohnanyi, Justus Franz, Jonas Aleksa, Juozas Domarkas, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Vytautas Viržonis, Rimas Geniušas, Julius Geniušas and Saulius Sondeckis; he has prepared parts in Kaunas and Klaipėda Musical Theatres, Ghent Opera and Czech National Opera Theatre.

For the parts he has prepared during the last five years (Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Count Šemeta, Žygimantas Augustas, Renatas and Žilvinas) as well as for the popularization of Lithuanian music, the opera soloist Vytautas Juozapaitis was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts in 2003.