Justina Vaitkutė was born in Rome into a Lithuanian family of classical musicians. She completed her degree in opera singing with distinction at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz under Prof. Elena Pankratova, and is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Konzertgesang with Holger Falk. She was a member of the 2023 Accademia Rodolfo Celletti in Martina Franca, under the artistic direction of Sebastian Schwarz and Fabio Luisi, and has participated in masterclasses with Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Scholl, Mariella Devia, and Vivica Genaux.
Justina is the 2025 recipient of the Salvat Bach Grant in Barcelona and performs regularly as a soloist with baroque ensembles across Europe. In 2024, she won the San Colombano Competition in Piacenza for the ‘Best Oratorio Performance of a German Aria’ and was a semi-finalist in the Innsbruck Cesti Competition. She made her debut at the Neue Oper Wien in Pascal Dusapin’s ‘Passion’ and performed as a soloist in Mendelssohn’s ‘Paulus’ at the Musikfest Stuttgart, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann broadcasted by ARD and SWR Kultur. That same year, she performed the role of Floßhilde in Wagner’s ‘Das Rheingold’ at the Schlossbergbühne Kasematten in Graz. She appeared as Zia Principessa (‘Suor Angelica’) in Graz under the baton of Gerrit Prießnitz (staged by Ingo Kerkhof) and debuted at the Festival della Valle d’Itria as Roccolina in Gassmann’s ‘Gli Uccellatori’. She also sang the role of Die Dichterin in Boesmans’s ‘Reigen’ in Graz and was soloist in Handel’s ‘Messiah’ with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, conducted by Gary Graden.
She worked with the Bachakademie Stuttgart and Hans-Christoph Rademann, performed Luigi Nono’s ‘Prometeo’ at the NODO Festival in Ostrava, and studied baroque singing with Andreas Scholl at the Accademia Chigiana. In 2022, she performed at the Styriarte Festival as Disinganno in Handel’s ‘Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno’ and sang at the Festival delle grandezze e meraviglie di Modena in works by Bononcini and Stradella.
Earlier highlights include her portrayal of Frau Reich in Nicolai’s ‘Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor’, Erste Norn in Wagner’s ‘Götterdämmerung’, and Angelo in Antonio Maria Bononcini’s ‘La decollazione di Giovanni Battista’ at the Graz Opera. She also appeared in Mozart – Haas’s ‘Requiem’ at the Grazer Musikverein, and in Klaus Lang’s ‘Der verschwundene Hochzeiter’ at the Bayreuth Festispiele. Other stage credits include Prinz Orlofsky (‘Die Fledermaus’), Dritte Dame, and Zweiter Knabe (‘Die Zauberflöte’).
She began her musical education in piano at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia and studied philosophy at the Sapienza Università di Roma. Her education also includes studies at the Berklee College of Music (Boston), Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff), and over a decade of ballet and modern dance experience.