Eimuntas Nekrosius

Eimuntas Nekrošius was born in 1952. He graduated from the Lunacharski Institute of Theatre Art in Moscow (1978). From 1978 to 1979 he worked at the State Youth Theatre in Vilnius, from 1979 to 1980 - at Kaunas Drama Theatre. Since 1980 he resumed work at the State Youth Theatre in Vilnius, where he produced the following performances: The Square by Yeliseyeva (1981), Love and Death in Verona by Antanėlis and Geda (1982), Pirosmani, Pirosmani, A Day Longer Than a Hundred Years by Aitmatov (1983), Uncle Vanya by Chekhov (1986) and The Nose by Gogol (1991). During 1991-97 Nekrošius has worked as a resident director of the Lithuanian International Theatre Festival LIFE. His performances produced by LIFE include Mozart and Salieri. Don Juan. Plague by Pushkin (1994), Three Sisters by Chekhov (1995) and Love and Death in Verona (1996). All were put on at many international theatre festivals. In 1997 he created one of his most successful productions – Shakespeare’s Hamlet that was performed in nearly all main European theatre festivals receiving numerous awards. Since 1998 Nekrošius has been working as the artistic director of the theatre studio “Meno fortas”, which was also established in 1998. In 1999 he produced Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In 2001 he produced Shakespeare’s Othello with the world premiere taking in Venice. In 2002 Nekrošius worked on his first opera and produced Verdi’s Macbeth at Teatro Comunale in Florence. In 2003 the new theatre production of Nekrosius – The Seasons was staged based on the epic poem by the classic Lithuanian writer Kristijonas Donelaitis. Another production of the same year was  Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard with Russian actors. The premiere of this production took place in July 2003 in Moscow and was hailed by Russian theatre critics as the most memorable and outstanding production of the play by the Russian playwright in the last decade.

One of the most poetic works done in 2004 was performance based on The Old Testament – The Song of Songs produced by Meno Fortas. Year 2005 was dedicated on the work of two opera productions – Children of Rosental by Desiatnikov staged in Bolshoy theatre in Moscow and Boris Godunov produced by Teatro Comunale in Florence. Nekrošius latest releases - production based on Goethe’s Faust created in Meno Fortas (2006) and Richard Wagner’s "Valkyrie" staged at Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in 2007. 2008 was fruitful with the new performances „Anna Karenina“ staged in Emilia Romagna Teatro in Modena and the latest opera production „The Legend of Invisible city of Kitez“ were directed by Eimuntas Nekrosius in Teatro Lirico of Cagliari and Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow. Latest performance directed by  Eimuntas Nekrosius is large scale theatrical production based on Fiodor Dostevsky „Idiot“ .

Major Awards:

1994: Lithuanian Theatre Union prize for the best director of the year
1994: The art prize of The International Baltic Assembly

1994: The New Theatre Realia prize of Taormin Arts Committee and European Theatre Union
1995: The Best Director's prize of the "Baltijskij dom" festival, St. Petersburg, Russia
1997: National Culture and Arts Premium

1997, 1999 & 2004: The "Golden Mask" (Moscow) prizes for the best foreign performances shown in Russia
1998: Lithuanian Theatre Union prize for the best director of the year
1999: The premium of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
1999: The prize for the best performance of the "Kontakt" festival, Torun, Poland

2001: Prizes for the best performance and the best director of the "Mess" festival, Sarayevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
2001: The International K. Stanislavsky Fund premium, Moscow, Russia

2003: Ministry's of Culture premium for the "Best Professional Theatre Artists of the Season"

2005: Letter of Honor "For the Spread of Lithuanian Theatre Culture" from the Lithuanian Institute of Awards "LT Identity 2004"

2007: An award from the Italian Critics Association for the best foreign performance shown in Italy 2008: UBU award for „Faust“, Italy