Biography

  • "An opera soloist still undiscovered in Lithuania has already captivated the international stage."

    - Evelina Aukstakalnytė

  • “ Ach bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben was masterfully brought to life by Justina Vaitkute. Her interpretation was truly exceptional. Vaitkute is, without question, a true mezzo, possessing a voice of warm timbre, a rich, dark velvet quality, and abundant elegance. She displayed a commanding central and lower register, seamlessly unified with a pristine homogeneity in her upper range. In this particular aria, she sculpted an atmosphere of profound sorrow”

    - Elsa Álvarez Forges

  • Justina Vaitkute, a beautiful dark voice with an even range, best appreciated in her beautiful aria ‘Il mesto rusignolo’ in Act II.

    Resonances Lyriques

  • Justina Vaitkute, belle voix sombre assez égale sur la tessiture, qu’on apprécie au mieux dans son très bel air « Il mesto rusignolo » du deuxième acte.

    Resonances Lyriques

  • “...and most notably, the exquisite voice of contralto Justina Vaitkute, who rendered with admirable artistry the celebrated aria “Ach, bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben,” later to find its iconic form as the Agnus Dei in the Mass in B Minor.”

    -Lluís Trullén

  • “...Once more, the vocal artistry of contralto Justina Vaitkute was afforded the opportunity to resplendently illuminate the refined aria “Meine Seele auf erzähle” from Cantata BWV 69.”

    -Lluís Trullén

Justina Vaitkutė, born in Rome into a Lithuanian family of classical musicians, completed her Master’s degree in Operngesang with distinction at the Kunstuniversität Graz under Prof. Elena Pankratova, where she is currently completing a Master’s degree in Performance Practice in Contemporary Music with Holger Falk. A member of the 2023 Accademia Rodolfo Celletti in Martina Franca under the artistic direction of Sebastian Schwarz and Fabio Luisi, she has worked with Sherman Lowe and Vivica Genaux, studied baroque singing with Andreas Scholl at the Accademia Chigiana, and participated in masterclasses with Cheryl Studer, Hedwig Fassbender, Mariella Devia, and Anna Bonitatibus.

She performs regularly as a soloist with baroque ensembles across Europe, with a versatile repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary works. In 2025, Justina won the Fundación Salvat Bach Award in Barcelona. That same year, she made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, followed in August by her title-role debut in Vivaldi’s Il Giustino at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. In February 2026, she performed the role of Tamerlano in Tamerlano e Bajazet at the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe. Her recent engagements also include preparing the role of Cleofe in Handel’s La Resurrezione with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and portraying Floßhilde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Schlossbergbühne Kasematten in Graz.

Earlier accolades and performance highlights include winning the prize for Best German Oratorio Aria at the San Colombano Competition in Piacenza, reaching the finals of the Theater an der Wien Graduierte Competition, and debuting at the Neue Oper Wien in Pascal Dusapin’s Passion. She sang as a soloist in Mendelssohn’s Paulus at the Musikfest Stuttgart under Hans-Christoph Rademann (broadcast on ARD and SWR Kultur) and performed in Handel’s Messiah with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, conducted by Gary Graden. Her concert and festival appearances also feature Luigi Nono’s Prometeo at the NODO Festival in Ostrava, Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno at the Styriarte Festival, and works by Bononcini and Stradella at the Festival delle grandezze e meraviglie di Modena. Her performances have been broadcast on Rai Radio 3 and recorded for labels including Naxos Deutschland, Arcana, and Dynamic Sounds.

On the operatic stage, her roles include Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica under Gerrit Prießnitz, Roccolina in Gassmann’s Gli Uccellatori at the Festival della Valle d’Itria, Die Dichterin in Boesmans’s Reigen, Frau Reich in Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Erste Norn in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, and Angelo in Bononcini’s La decollazione di Giovanni Battista at the Graz Opera. She has also appeared in Mozart–Haas’s Requiem at the Grazer Musikverein, Klaus Lang’s Der verschwundene Hochzeiter at the Bayreuther Festspiele, as well as Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Dritte Dame, and Zweiter Knabe (Die Zauberflöte).

She initially studied piano and violin at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia and philosophy at the Sapienza Università di Roma, alongside jazz studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, and over a decade of classical dance training.