Stasys Šimkus

Who was Stasys Šimkus?

Stasys Šimkus was a Lithuanian composer.

Šimkus studied in Vilnius and Warsaw and later became the pupil of Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov, Jāzeps Vītols, and Maximilian Steinberg. After visiting the United States, he went to Leipzig for further studies with Paul Graener and Sigfrid Karg-Elert. A national Romantic, Šimkus helped resurrect the Lithuanian cultural organization Daina in 1916. In 1923, he opened a private music school in Klaipėda, which was soon converted into the national Lithuanian conservatory. He was a professor of composition at the Conservatoire from 1931 to 1937 and also conducted the State Opera at Kaunas.

Šimkus composed several operas, a cantata, a symphonic poem, a piano suite, a ballade, choral works, lieder, and church music. He composed the music for Lietuvininks we are born by Georg Sauerwein.

His son Algis Šimkus also became a renowned conductor, pianist, and composer.