Aivaras

Who is Aivaras?

Aivaras Stepukonis is a Lithuanian musician and philosopher.

Stepukonis earned baccalaureate in theology and philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 1995 and master's degree from the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein in 1997. In 2005, he defended his PhD thesis at the Lithuanian Culture, Philosophy, and Art Research Institute. In the same year he published monograph on Max Scheler and sociology of knowledge. In 2007, he received a research fellowship from UNESCO and Keizō Obuchi to study of the University of Hawaii.

He was vocals in a band called Pėdsakai from 1998 until 2001, when he decided to start a solo career. He was nominated as the artists of the year for the 2001 Bravo awards. In the national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, he placed second. Nevertheless, he was allowed to represent Lithuania with the song Happy You at the international final in Tallinn because the winners B'Avarija were disqualified. Aivaras was not very successful reaching only 23rd place. Since then, Stepukonis has released three solo albums: eponymous Aivaras, Myliu arba tyliu, and Sage & Fool. After the second album he retired from the stage, working as composer and sound director with other artists.