Liudas Mockunas

Liudas Mockūnas is a Lithuanian saxophonist, composer, and music producer born on 18 May 1976 in Panevėžys. He began his musical education at eight, studying classical clarinet at the M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art and later saxophone with Vladimir Chekassin. Mockūnas made his debut on the jazz scene in 1988 performing with Chekassin's youth ensemble at European festivals. He studied at the Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen starting in 1999 and earned his degree from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2002. In 2000, he formed the group Toxikum with drummer Stefan Pasborg. He released the album Mockūnas/Pasborg–Project (2001) and began teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2004. Mockūnas co-founded the independent label NoBusiness Records, which issues his original compositions. Albums include Silent Vociferation (2009) with Marc Ducret and Lava (2012) with Barry Guy. He received the Mūzų malūnas award in 2004 and the Vilnius Jazz festival prize in 2006.