Klėja Kašubaitė

I am Klėja. On the outside I look like an ordinary teenager, but in reality I am a pianist who performs in the biggest world halls. Some would say I have a double life as the way I portray myself to my friends – a relatively closed person, is opposite to how I am on stage – fierce yet emotional. I started playing piano at 5 years old in the Algirdo Music School in Vilnius, before I even started going to school. Before that I went to Rygaards International School in Copenhagen, Denmark, and we lived very close to the sea, with a fairy-tale tree house in our garden. From first to second grade, I started studying in the M.K.Čiurlionis School of Arts, where my passion and love for music only started growing. At first, music just seemed like a simple hobby for me, however not it grew to become a part of my lifestyle. After Vilnius, our family moved to Kyiv, Ukraine where I studied music for almost 4 more years in the V.Kosenko Music School with an amazing teacher, Viktorija Diubenko. Next, we moved to Berlin, where to this day we have been studying at the University of Arts in Berlin. My current professor is Markus Groh. However even to this day, I still collect experiences and motivation for music, through various master classes, performances, camps and concerts. Mūza Rubackytė still has remained my biggest inspiration to this day though! 

Music for me is a way to express oneself. Not only do I perform music, but I also always listen to music as well – to different genres as well. Different music is very important for me, there’s a different genre or song for every mood that you’re feeling! Music styles can differ in so many ways – the beat, the lyrics, the melodies… Every aspect which is different contributes to a different emotion for the listeners.

For me, music is all about the motives and inspiration behind it. Yes, everyone could compose music, however the best music that has been composed was by people who had a spark of inspiration. In my opinion, if you don’t have a purpose for your music, it will not be as emotional as it would’ve been if you are truly passionate about it.

I could not imagine music without a community. For example, enjoying music alone is one thing, however finding people that enjoy the same music as you brings so many more deep things to surface level. Having conversations about music is such a special thing, and I could not imagine music without it. 

I enjoy music because not only does it allow me to travel the world, but also to meet new people and form new connections. I have been to a few piano camps before where I formed friendships that I still maintain to this day. Many thanks to Gintaras Januševičius, who has been bringing talented pianists from all over the world to the Klaipėda Piano Masters Summer Academy for many years. All of these relationships started because of music and because of similar interests. It also allows me to explore myself more, to find what I enjoy and ways to express myself. It allows me to find out things about myself that I never have before in the past.

Making music professionally of course is difficult. The hardest part of music is maintaining the motivation to practice every day and coping with stress. For example, preparing a piece that you’ve never performed before causes a lot of stress for me, but the final result is always worth it. I wouldn’t exchange it for anything else, because as hard as it seems, it is still a way to relax.

Most of the time after concerts, people are really touched by our music. We have encountered a couple people that even started crying or getting emotional from our music – this shows how impactful music can be. People usually have amazing reactions to our performances, and it acts as even more motivation for us. What I remembered the most was the concert in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This was because the audience seemed exceptionally touched by our concert. Countless people approached us after our performance, some with tears in their eyes, some with smiles. This was really impactful for me as it proved to me how many different emotions the same concert can bring out for people.

In the future, I think I would like to have more than one job. For example, I would like to study not only music, but also medicine as it really fascinates me. The perfect lifestyle for me would be to work a regular job, but come home and practice. If the other job (for example in medicine) would be flexible, it would be great to also travel on the weekends and perform in concerts. This would lead to a flexible lifestyle where I could balance both of my interests. But would that be possible???

I would say that classical music is not the most “in trend” for young people as it has been composed many years ago and young people can’t relate to it much anymore. Additionally, people my age enjoy going to live concerts of performers that sing their own songs, as they can see the composer of the songs in real life, while with classical music, you can only listen to concerts of the interpreter as the composers are long dead. Of course, there are still many people that do listen to classical music, however it all depends on the interest. Just like every person in the world doesn’t have the same favourite color, every person (especially young) can not like the same exact music because of their opinions.

To keep classical music “in trend”, it would be smart to combine it with things that young people enjoy – for example a classical rap 🙂. This would allow young people to enjoy classical music, while still being able to relate to something of their interests. 

I wouldn’t say I value my “winnings” or accomplishments the most. What I value the most are the interactions with the audience after the concerts or the feeling of completion after a difficult concert. Of course it was a pleasure to be able to perform in Carnegie Hall or the Berlin Philharmonic, however what makes me feel the most accomplished is the positive feedback after every concert…