Loreta Sungailienė – ethnomusicologist, Doctor of Humanities, intangible cultural heritage specialist at the Lithuanian National Culture Centre, and host of the LRT television program “Duokim garo!”
She gives lectures on the preservation and promotion of ethnic cultural traditions and serves as co-author and consultant for national and multinational nominations to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. She leads folk singing workshops and directs the Vilnius City Folk Ensemble “Virvytė.”
In 2024, the ethnomusicologist worked as part of the creative and organizational team for the Folklore Day “Rasi rasoj rasi” at the Lithuanian Song Festival “Kad giria žaliuotų,” celebrating the festival’s centenary. She also performed as a soloist at the Centennial Evening and Dance Day “Amžių tiltais” concerts.
L. Sungailienė is a folk singer with extensive stage experience and the ability to reveal the beauty of sung folklore in various musical styles and genres. She is a participant and soloist in world music projects “Sutartinės Party” and “ZAP. Keturi elementai” (Four Elements), and has performed with jazz musician Dainius Pulauskas, Artūras Novikas’ group “Jazz Island,” the M. K. Čiurlionis Quartet, the Vilnius Choir, the State Song and Dance Ensemble “Lietuva,” leading national wind orchestras, as well as with musicians from the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Symphony Orchestra.
L. Sungailienė is the vocalist in folk jazz projects “Lithuanian Trombone Project and Loreta Sungailienė,” “Loreta and Vytautas Folk Jazz Group,” as well as in the groups “LAV Trio” and “Trio Kartu.” She has performed together with academic and jazz musicians in various Lithuanian cities and international jazz festivals in Lithuania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.
In 2023, she participated in the concert “Music Unites the World” at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine in Kyiv, where she performed Lithuanian folk song arrangements (composer V. Pilibavičius) together with the Ukrainian Academic Wind Orchestra. In 2024, L. Sungailienė performed with the Kyiv Academic Wind Orchestra in various Lithuanian cities.
For her contribution to the preservation and passing on of Lithuanian folklore to future generations, she was awarded a nomination by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as the Order of Merit for Lithuania medal, presented by the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė. In 2017, together with her colleague Audronė Vakarinienė, L. Sungailienė became the second prize laureate at the international music festival-contest Sharq Taronalari in Samarkand (Republic of Uzbekistan, under UNESCO patronage).
