Martynas Levickis wins OPUS KLASSIK award for his album “Autograph”, recently released with Accentus Music

The winners of the prestigious prize have just be announced las week. Out of hundreds of nominees, there are only three winners in the Instrumentalist category, with Martynas Levickis being one of them. More information on this years awards will be communicated at the award ceremony set to take place in Berlin on October 8th.

In this very personal album entitled “Autograph”, released with the Accentus Music label, Martynas presents as a soloist, arranger, and composer of all the colours and sounds of the instrument he adores and of which he is the master: the accordion.

At the age of 20, Martynas made it to the big stages of the music world when he won both the World Accordion Championship and a major Lithuanian talent show in 2010. Since then, Martynas Levickis has seen himself as an ambassador for his instrument, bringing its versatility and beauty into focus with programmes spanning epochs and genres and sophisticated arrangements.

“I set out to redefine the image of the accordion and try to show that you can use this instrument in a decidedly versatile way!” – Martynas

Martynas studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and came into contact with the classical repertoire in particular. For his debut album, however, he chose not only classical, but also pop and folk pieces. With this, he makes himself known as a jack-of-all-trades – and lands at No.1 in the UK classical charts.

New repertoire for his instrument, however, grows slowly. “I’m a big fan of contemporary music and would like to play it more often, but this repertoire is not requested by promoters very often anymore”, says Martynas.

For the present album, he therefore spans the arc from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to today’s Philip Glass and Franck Angelis and impressively proves that the accordion has also found its place in classical and new music.

In August 2023, Martynas will make his debut at the Rheingau Musik and Grafenegg Festivals. In addition to his busy concert schedule in Lithuania, he is scheduled to perform at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Berlin Konzerthaus, with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden (with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra), among others, before Martynas starts his residency at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival with concerts with the NDR Radiophilharmonie.