Biography
Monika Palsauskaite successfully defended her Doctor of Performing Arts (DPerf) thesis at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of St Andrews in 2024, under the supervision of Professor Stephen Broad and Professor Aaron Shorr. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, she began playing the piano at the age of four and graduated from the National M. K. Ciurlionis Art School in 2010. Monika is a laureate of numerous international piano competitions.
Her doctoral thesis entitled "New Artistic Perspectives on Olivier Messiaen's Piano Music" focused on innovative interpretations of Messiaen's works. Through her artistic and development projects, Monika aimed to foster a scholarly conversation about the boundaries and constraints within the field of Western classical music performance. To achieve a new perspective on Messiaen's music, she combined it with various texts, including extracts from the Bible, monologues by Howard Barker, poems by Cecile Sauvage and quotations attributed to Messiaen himself. This interdisciplinary approach revealed new facets of Messiaen's work and deepened Monika's understanding of how textual context can shape musical interpretation.
Beyond her academic achievements, Monika is passionate about music education. She began teaching in 2009 and was a Part-Time Lecturer in Piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Junior Conservatoire from 2016 to 2022, where she inspired and mentored the next generation of musicians.
Monika is also an active performer and collaborator. She often works with emerging composers and with interdisciplinary artists, fusing music with other art forms to create unique and compelling performances. Her work in this area has also led to her involvement in the production of Ingmar Bergman's 'Autumn Sonata' at Teatras Meno Fortas since 2021, demonstrating the impact of her interdisciplinary performances on wider artistic projects.
In 2016, Monika co-founded the Gelos Duo with saxophonist Francisco Sanchez. The duo has collaborated with such esteemed musicians as Arno Bornkamp, Scott Mitchell and Josef Pacewicz. In 2017, the Gelos Duo joined the Live Music Now Scotland scheme, performing in prestigious venues across the UK including the Scottish National Galleries, Usher Hall, Arran Music Society, University of St Andrews, and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. A highlight of the Gelos Duo's work was the 2018 premiere of Electra Perivolaris' piece 'Delicate granite rock, crumbling apart in my hands' at the BBC Maida Vale Studio, which was simultaneously broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Since 2023, Monika has also been organising workshops with actress and voice and public speaking coach Adrija Cepaite. These training sessions are designed to help participants realise their potential by improving their communication, collaboration, improvisation and performance skills.
Beyond her artistic endeavours, Monika is also an advocate for gender equality. In 2021-2022, as part of her work with Go Forward!, she coordinated the Barbershop Lietuva project. The project, run in partnership with UN Women Iceland, focused on promoting discussions on gender equality across Lithuania.
Monika continues to push the boundaries of classical music performance, education and advocacy, driven by a deep commitment to artistic innovation and social change through the arts.