About Klėja & Kaja
Sisters KLĖJA and KAJA KAŠUBAITĖ (piano solo and duo) are the youngest Lithuanians to make their debuts at the Berlin Philharmonic in December 2023 at the age of 13 and 14, at the Konzerthaus, Berlin in May 2024 and at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York in December 2024.
Since August 2022 they have been living in Berlin, Germany, studying at the Metropolitan International School and as young students at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK)/Julius Stern Institute with Prof. Markus Groh and Prof. Sabine Simon. At the same time they are also studying remotely at the Balys Dvarionas School of Music in Vilnius, Lithuania. After a successful performance in the main German youth music competition "Jugend musiziert", they were recognised and supported by the Rotary Club of Berlin "Luftbrüke", the German Foundation "Musikleben" (Hamburg). In June 2024 they became scholarship holders of this Foundation. They have received prizes from „Steinway & Sons“, „Bechstein“ and „Yamaha“. They have played at the invitation of the German National Music Council (Landesmusikrat) at the Berlin Parliament. In 2023, they became a scholarship holders of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation LIVE MUSIC NOW for a period of five years. More recently, they became students of the International Music Academy, Berlin. Their patrons at this Academy are: for PIANO DUO Prof. Gil Garburg (Graz University of the Arts, Austria) and for PIANO SOLO Prof. Sabine Simon (Berlin University of the Arts, Germany).
The young pianists have already gained a great deal of concert experience and have won numerous international competitions in the solo and piano duo categories (won competitions in France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Costa Rica, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Malta, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, etc). The list of wins includes 16 GRAND PRIX and 75 first prizes in the piano SOLO category and 12 GRAND PRIX and 26 first prizes in the piano DUO category. Due to their father's profession as a diplomat, Kaja, Klėja and their family live in different countries around the world. From 2018 until the outbreak of the war in February 2022, they lived in Kiev, Ukraine, for almost four years. Between 2018 and 2022 they collaborated with the Foundation named after the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, were awarded the Letters of Honour of the President of Ukraine for their high artistic achievements, and twice became the winners of the scholarship of the Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klychko. Klėja is also supported by the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation, Vilnius.
On 11 March 2022, Kaja and Klėja were awarded the Small Kristofor award of Vilnius City Municipality for their outstanding achievements and for promoting the city of Vilnius in the world.
As soloists, they have performed with 6 symphony and chamber orchestras. Have participated in renowned international music festivals: the Pažaislis Festival in Kaunas, the M.K. Čiurlionis Festival in Palanga, Kaunas Festival of Young Performers at Kaunas Philharmonic, Piano Festival (patron Mūza Rubackytė) at the National Philharmonic in Vilnius, "Berlin Piano Duo” and “Crescendo” Festivals in Berlin, the World Voices Festival in Palanga, the St. George Art Season in Marijampolė, the Klaipėda Piano Masters, performed at the Royal Palace in Warsaw, at the Masonic Lodge in Berlin, Paliesius Manor, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall in New York, in Chicago and Miami. In 2024, on the occasion of Lithuania's Independence Restoration Day, they were invited to give a concert on the occasion of the official visit of the Lithuanian Prime Minister to Germany, in the presence of politicians, diplomats and media.
