Lithuanian conductor Martynas Stakionis has emerged as one of the most dynamic and promising conductors of his generation. Since his debut with the Kaunas State Philharmonic in April 2014, he has appeared with the Frankfurt Alte Oper, Mozarteum Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Baltic Sea Philharmonic, Lithuanian National Symphony, Lithuanian National Opera Symphony, Schleswig-Holstein State Theatre Symphony, Kremerata Baltica, and Lithuanian Chamber orchestras.

In 2018, Stakionis received the Norwegian Critics Association award for Best Music Performance of the Season, performing Gubaidulina’s Fachwerk with Kremerata Baltica at the Bergen Music Festival. He has developed a strong relationship with Gidon Kremer through his partnership with Kremerata Baltica at the Kronberg Academy Festival, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Dvorakova Praha, and the Auditorium de la Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris, where he conducted the French premiere of Greater Antiphons by Arvo Pärt, which was recorded by Medici.tv.

Stakionis made his debut at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet in November 2021, conducting performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Schönberg’s Transfigured Night, and in 2024 he conducted several performances of The Tales of Hoffmann as a guest conductor. From 2021 to 2023, Stakionis served as Artistic Director for the Opera Accelerator, an ambitious international opera program, in cooperation with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. In 2023–24 he conducted numerous performances at the Schleswig-Holstein State Theater, including La Traviata, Sweeney Todd, and others. Stakionis also serves as guest conductor at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic and has conducted and recorded numerous concerts with both orchestras since his debut in 2015.

In 2022, Stakionis assisted conductor Laurence Equilbey in various projects with the Insula Orchestra in La Seine Musicale à Paris. Assistant Conductor at the Hamburg Chamber Opera Theater from 2016 to 2018, he has also assisted Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla at the Salzburg State Theatre’s productions of Haydn’s Il mondo della luna and Max Brand’s Stormy Interlude. In 2023, Stakionis was Assistant Conductor for productions of The Cunning Little Vixen and Lulu with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and ORF Vienna Radio Symphony at the Theater an der Wien.

Steeped in a rich choral background from an early age, Stakionis has conducted the Latvian and Lithuanian State Choirs, Paris National Opera‘s Children's Choir, and Hannover Mädchenchor, winning and placing high in several competitions, most notably as the winner of the Fifth Jazeps Vitols Choral Conductors Competition in 2014, among others.