JOVITA KASPERAVIČIŪTĖ
Next up in this blog series is Jovita Kasperavičiūtė from Lithuania! She is a euphonium player with massive ambitions, soon to take over the euphonium world I think! Her Instagram videos have left brass players amazed by her freedom of musical expression and ease of technique.
Before reading her interview, you MUST listen to her playing! 🎵 Here is a recording of her playing Danse Macabre composed by Zita Bružaitė
I hope you enjoy reading her interview!
Do you have a favourite composer or piece of classical or brass music?
I don’t think I have a favourite, but I do have a few pieces I really like. One example would be the first ever difficult piece I tried practising, “Harlequin” by Philip Sparke. I remember listening to it so much, I learned to solfege the whole piece by memory (I think I can still do it today actually!). I think I started learning it on my 2nd year of playing euphonium - that’s actually super early and I definitely didn’t have the skills for it, but I loved it so much, I practised it anyways.
Have you got any funny stories or unique experiences that you would like to share about any musical projects you have ever been involved in?
When I travelled to Italy for the Italian Brass Week festival in 2023, quite a funny misunderstanding occurred. I was participating in a competition, which was held on the first day of the festival. I was ready to perform one mandatory piece which was the Euphonium Concerto by Joseph Horovitz. I was the first one to go on stage, and I played the first movement, but then everyone started clapping and the pianist wasn’t ready to play the 2nd movement. I was so confused, I bowed and looked up to the pianist who said “that’s it ”. I awkwardly went off of stage. So what happened was somehow, telepathically I should’ve known to only prepare the first movement (they hadn’t had any information about that on the site and even included a pdf with a full concerto). And to top it off, the winner of the competition was a tuba player who didn’t play the mandatory piece and just played whatever he wanted… Well it’s quite funny when I now look back!
What 3 songs do you love the most and why?
It’s hard to pick out the top 3. I like to listen to many genres of music including classic rock (for example, The Beatles and Queen), funk (Vulfpeck), classical music (Ravel, Strauss and Debussy) and of course - brass music (especially euphonium performances and brass band repertoire).
Tell us about some of your achievements as a euphonium player and musician.
I’m so happy I can list many things I am proud of! It’s actually insane if you think about it. I won countless competitions so far! I played many solos with a lot of different orchestras. I have performed in the UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Estonia and even more! Recently, my brass band (Brass LT) got the champions title after becoming 1st in the challenge section in EBBC. Also recently, I became a junior artist for AR Resonance! I have many concerts planned this year and all of this just feels insane…
What would you still like to achieve in your life, musical or not musical?
I want to study for a bachelors degree next year. I want to play solos in various different countries, teach in masterclasses or just teach euphonium in general, I want to play in many orchestras, I definitely want to record an album someday!
How did you first get involved in music and what was your early inspiration?
Wauh! Interesting story! When I was in primary school, my best friend started taking music lessons. I was jealous because she was learning an instrument and I didn’t have much to do at the time, so I begged my parents to let me go to music school too.
I wanted to play piano but all the teachers were too busy. Then I went for drums, but the same thing happened. After that, I wanted to play the flute or the saxophone. Ended up playing a recorder (so later I can choose which instrument to switch to). My teacher was a euphonium player (which is incredibly rare). After listening to his students play the euphonium, I quickly fell in love with the sound of the instrument. And here I am, answering questions, playing solos and winning competitions! My first inspiration was definitely my teacher - Jurgis Dapšauskas. He was such a great euphonium player and especially an incredible teacher. I am forever grateful to him for being the best teacher ever! Then I discovered Steven Mead and he quickly became my second inspiration!
Do you have a website, business or social media page you would like to promote? Please tell us all about it.
I actively use my Instagram - @jovitakasper_euph where I post bits from my practise sessions and concerts! I also have a YouTube account @jovitakasper_euph. Quite recently I published my first ever full video performance there, so be sure to check it out!
Do you agree there are challenges facing female musicians today? If so, what do you think are the biggest changes that need to be made to improve this?
I am so grateful I haven't faced a lot of challenges as a female in low brass, but I definitely feel like there are challenges for some.
Starting from the beginning, I think it’s unusual to see females playing the euphonium in general. It’s obvious that most of the time, children do not pick the instrument themselves and they are given it by their parents. Perhaps many parents don’t really know what is the euphonium and if they do, they definitely do not want their girls to chose such an instrument because it is simply not popular.
To solve this, female players should definitely perform more and promote their euphonium playing as much as possible, so parents can see that it’s become normal for females to choose the euphonium.
How can others help? Well, festivals could definitely invite more female performers! Maybe if the euphonium became more popular among females, there wouldn’t be any challenges!
What piece of advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?
I’ve been thinking about this question for a while now and really I am happy with the past me because it led me here and who I am today! Of course I can say something simple like “practise more” or “study for that physics test” haha! But actually this is what I would probably say if I had to give an advice for the past me - “Do what you know is good to do”.
What piece of advice would you give to young brass players (or any instrumentalists) to help them find success?
Play what you want and find a way to enjoy practicing. Now let me explain! When I was just starting to learn the euphonium, I always practised pieces that were too hard for me at the moment. I did not have the range for them, but I liked how they sounded on YouTube. My teacher wasn’t very happy because I practised those pieces so much, I didn’t practise the required pieces enough haha! But I still did it anyway because I enjoyed practising this way. I learned so much because I wanted to practise - I wanted for that piece to sound good, so I discovered new techniques like double or triple tonguing, found a way to produce a better sound and develop my range. But now don’t get me wrong! Practise the required pieces also haha! The balance is important. So go ahead - learn that anime solo or the famous Carnival of Venice or anything else you would like to 😉.
A big THANK YOU to Jovita for being interviewed in this blog series!
I hope you enjoyed reading the interview, please share it, like and subscribe and look out for the next one very soon!
To return to the overview page to see who is next to be featured, just CLICK HERE!
Mark Glover
16/10/24
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