Dainius Pulauskas Group is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Thirty springs have passed since its debut in March 1996 at the Birštonas Jazz Festival. This is also the title, Thirty Springs, of the group’s latest, 12th album, which the musicians will present at the Vilnius Jazz to mark the anniversary.

Pulauskas has composed eight dynamic and contrasting compositions for this album, demonstrating his commitment to the fusion style and to vivid combinations of electronic and acoustic timbres, whose distinctive sound has won over jazz audiences not only in Lithuania but also in other parts of the world.

Thirty years ago, Pulauskas’ fusion group made its debut as a jazz quintet and soon expanded into a sextet, which became one of the world’s best-known Lithuanian jazz formations. In 2001, the group won the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union’s “Golden Disc,” awarded to the country’s best musicians of the year. In 2004, the sextet received the Lithuanian Institute’s “LT Identity” award for promoting Lithuanian jazz around the world.

Since 2004, all of Pulauskas’ jazz ensembles, which perform exclusively his music, have been known as the Dainius Pulauskas Group (DPG). They have brought even greater international recognition to Lithuania, having performed at over 170 festivals across four continents. The DPG was the first group from Lithuania to take the stage in Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Korea, and has performed at major festivals in India. The group has been applauded by audiences at prestigious jazz festivals in Ottawa, London, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.

The authoritative jazz website Allaboutjazz.com has recognized the group’s leader, Pulauskas, as one of the most interesting fusion composers in European jazz, and his sextet as a significant force on the progressive European fusion jazz scene.

Today, the group brings together a select group of Lithuanian musicians from different generations. The younger new members infuse its music with fresh energy.

Keyboardist, composer, and bandleader Dainius Pulauskas is one of Lithuania’s most prominent and prolific jazz masters. His creative range spans from solo works to symphonic jazz and big band compositions. He composes music for large and chamber ensembles, theatre, film, as well as for song festivals, and also arranges music for television projects.

In addition to DPG, the keyboardist performs with his own acoustic quintet and trio and is a member of the Baltic Jazz Trio. The Estonian National Opera and Ballet Theatre has staged a contemporary ballet titled Jazz Ballet Club based on Pulauskas’ original compositions. The musician represented Lithuania in a multinational group of composers tasked with creating the anthem for the European Jazz Network (EJN). His music was featured in a live broadcast of the Euroradio jazz orchestra concert to countries across Europe.

The Maestro’s work has been immortalized in more than 20 solo albums, two solo DVDs, and numerous jazz compilations. The musician also collaborates with performers of folk and classical music and has given solo performances at the international jazz piano festivals in Liepāja and Prague, as well as at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall.

Pulauskas has been organizing and is the artistic director of an annual international jazz festival, Vievio džiazo klavišai (Vievis Jazz Keys), in his hometown of Vievis.

For his contributions to Lithuanian jazz, Pulauskas has been awarded the Bravo prize as the best Lithuanian jazz musician of the year; the Grand Prix for the best arrangement of Yesterday by Lennon and McCartney at the International Competition Yesterday Pärnu’99 (Estonia); the Birštonas Jazz Festival Award, the Vilnius Jazz Award and the Kaunas Jazz Award, the Government Culture and Art Prize.

Valerijus Ramoška is a regular member of Dainius Pulauskas’ fusion and acoustic quintet, as a part of which he has visited more than 30 countries. Ramoška participates in the projects of trombonist and composer Jievaras Jasinskis, appears as a soloist with national big bands, collaborates with various chamber ensembles, and participates in television projects. His instrument can also be heard on the contemporary academic music scene.

The trumpeter’s contributions to Lithuanian jazz were recognized with the Grand Prix at the Birštonas Jazz Festival.

Composer, arranger, electronic music producer, and multi-instrumentalist Liutauras Janušaitis is the first Lithuanian musician to graduate from Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA). He collaborates with many Lithuanian and international jazz and pop stars, as well as academic music ensembles, and, as a participant in various musical projects regularly performs in European countries, the USA, Canada, South Korea, and Japan.

The musician composes and arranges not only jazz, rock, and pop music, but also chamber music; he also produces electronic and experimental music projects, has released three solo albums. Janušaitis has recorded on more than ten albums as a guest artist in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Spain, and the United States.

Saxophonist Tomas Botyrius has been a member of the Kaunas Big Band for about 20 years and currently serves as its principal conductor. He collaborates with many Lithuanian jazz masters, as well as pop and academic musicians. He is a member of Jievaras Jasinskis’ Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble and delivers original jazz programmes.

Domas Aleksa is one of the most prominent bass guitarists in Lithuania, a composer, producer, initiator of international projects, and the founder of and instructor at the “Bass School” in Vilnius.

The bassist has been playing with DPG since 2012 and has performed with the group at numerous prestigious international jazz festivals. His instrument can also be heard in concerts and recordings of pop and electronic music groups. Domas has recorded more than 40 albums spanning various musical styles, including four solo albums.

Domantas Razmus is one of Lithuania’s most inventive jazz and improvisational music drummers; percussionist, and composer. He is actively involved in jazz, improvisational, and contemporary academic music scenes, and is a member of numerous groups as well as a collaborates with leading figures in Lithuanian jazz and improvisational music.

He has recorded more than ten albums with various masters and has released two solo albums.

Arkadij Gotesman is one of Lithuania’s most fascinating percussionists, as well as a composer, poet, theatre director, pedagogue, producer, Spiritus Movens of Vilnius Klezmer Orchestra and artistic director of Utena Percussion and Jazz Festival.

He composes, records and performs music for theatre, writes scenarios for musical performances and installations, is an enthusiast of silent movies, organises projects with dancers, writers, actors and visual artists, delivers personal shows. In 2025, he released the album Muzika įsivaizduojamam baletui (Music for an Imaginary Ballet).

Free jazz and improvised music is the element of this alchemist of sound. His work embraces poetry, magic, and unusual combinations of instruments.

Arkadij has improvised with the coryphées of various music trends. He also performs the latest in academic music and has premiered works by renowned Lithuanian composers.

Gotesman’s contributions to Lithuanian jazz have been recognized with awards from the Birštonas Jazz and the Vilnius Jazz.