About Rimvydas Savickas

Rimvydas Savickas was born in Skuodas, a small town of Lithuania. At the age of six he started singing in the town’s boys’ choir. Two years later he began playing the clarinet entering the town’s School of Art. At the age of 14 he won First Prize in a National J. Pakalnis competition for young musicians, which led to his later studies at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art in the Capital, Vilnius, where he was coached by well-known Lithuanian clarinetist, Algirdas Budrys. While studying there, he performed as a soloist with several orchestras including school’s chamber and symphony orchestras, Lithuanian state wind orchestra „Trimitas“, Kaunas city symphony orchestra, and the youth orchestra „Steiermark/Litauen“ led by maestro Saulius Sondeckis.

In 2007 Savickas entered the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he continued studying with prof. A. Budrys. In 2011 he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Art of Performance. During this period he became a laureate of several National and International competitions, performed as a soloist with the Klaipėda State musical theatre orchestra, Lithuanian state wind orchestra “Trimitas” and for one season held the position of the principal clarinet in the Kaunas city symphony orchestra. In addition, as an exchange student for one semester, he studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, in Jørgen Jensen clarinet class, and had an opportunity to play in the Danish National Radio symphony orchestra. Also, in 2009 he has been improving his clarinet playing skills in an international Summer Academy "MusicAlp"in France with well-known clarinetist Nicolas Baldeyrou. In 2014 Rimvydas Savickas graduated from the California State University of Fullerton, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Music Performance, studying with internationally acclaimed clarinetist, Håkan Rosengren, and received „Frank J. and Jean Raymond Foundation, Inc.“ scholarship. During the studies he performed as a soloist with the symphony and wind orchestras of the University, played in the Texas Festival orchestra in Round Top, became an overall Grand-Prize winner of the 2013 Music Associates Concerto/Aria Competition at the University, and was selected as one of the 10 best soloists from 138 participants in International “Ima Hogg” competition in Houston. In addition, Savickas was invited to play in the Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles.

Since 2014 Savickas is active in Lithuania and abroad. He frequently performs as a soloist with orchestras such as Klaipėda chamber orchestra, Lithuanian Military orchestra, Čiurlionis Quartet, Lithuanian National symphony, Lithuanian symphonic wind orchestra, Chamber music ensemble “Musica Humana” and Lithuanian chamber orchestra.

Rimvydas Savickas currently holds a position as associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater and teaches clarinet at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art. Next to his teaching in Lithuania he has given masterclasses abroad in institutions such as Danish Royal Academy of Music, Latvian J. Vitols Academy of Music, the Higher Conservatory of Music of Vigo, K. Lipinski Music Academy in Wrocław and California State University of Fullerton.

Within last few years R. Savickas has been broadening his musical spectrum also as a conductor. Since 2021 he is studying his second Master’s Degree in symphonic conducting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre led by prof. Dainius Pavilionis. He has performed concerts conducting Lithuanian Military orchestra, joint orchestra of the Band of the Yorkshire Regiment and Lithuanian State witnd orchestra “Trimitas”, Lithuanian symphonic wind orchestra and its smaller ensembles, and Duch National youth fanfare orchestra. In 2022 has participated in conducting masterclasses with swedish conductor, Leif Karlsson, and Amsterdam Conservatory professor, Danny Oosterman.

Photos of Rimvydas Savickas

Photo credit: Paulius Dautartas, Dmitrijus Matvejevas