Vytautas Juozapaitis

Vytautas Juozapaitis was born on 14 December 1963 in Radviliškis, Lithuania.

He is a Lithuanian singer (baritone) and an educator by profession.

He is married (since 1988) and has three daughters.

He pursued a Master’s program in Law and Management at Mykolas Romeris University from 2005, but these studies were later suspended.

During 1992–1993 he participated in the European Center of Opera and Vocal Art (ECOV) training program in Belgium.

In 1992, after achieving success in the Pavarotti competition, he undertook further vocal training in New York with the renowned coach Marlena Malas, and also studied with Finnish baritone Tom Krause.

In 1989 he graduated from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) with a master’s degree in solo singing.

He completed his secondary education at Radviliškis 5th Secondary School in 1981 and then studied carpentry at the Vilnius 26th Technical School in 1981–1982.

In 2009 he founded the Vytautas Juozapaitis Educational Culture and Art Center (a public institution) and served as its director until 2012.

He was a docent (associate professor) at the Vilnius College of Higher Education Arts Faculty from 2006 to 2012.

In 2005, Juozapaitis served as an opera manager at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2003 he toured the United States with the touring opera company "Teatro Lirico D’Europa."

He served as the Opera Director of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre from 1999 to 2001.

From 1996 to 2012, he taught at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, attaining the title of Professor in 2010.

In 1994–1995 he performed the title role of Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera at the Czech National Opera in Prague, and toured Japan with that production.

Juozapaitis was a soloist at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre from 1990 until 2012.

In 1990, he made his debut at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, singing the role of Wolfram in Richard Wagner’s opera "Tannhäuser."

In 1989 he made his stage debut at the Kaunas State Musical Theatre, performing the role of Freddie in the musical "My Fair Lady."

He has also been active as a television personality in Lithuania.

He has collaborated with internationally renowned figures in classical music, performing under conductors like Mstislav Rostropovich and Krzysztof Penderecki and working with opera directors such as Anthony Minghella.

He hosts a classical music television program called "Tegyvuoja klasika!" and has occasionally served as a judge on music competition shows in Lithuania.

He has released three solo recordings (albums) over the course of his musical career.

He has served as a judge (and head of the jury) on the LNK television singing competition "Žvaigždžių duetai" (Star Duets).

After the 2024 elections, he returned to the Seimas on 19 November 2024 as a member via the party’s multi-member list for the 2024–2028 term.

In the 2020 parliamentary elections Juozapaitis won the Aleksotas–Vilijampolė single-member constituency (No. 19) in Kaunas, and served as its Seimas member from 13 November 2020 to 14 November 2024.

He was re-elected to the Seimas in 2016 and served as an MP from 14 November 2016 until 13 November 2020 (again via the TS-LKD list).

In November 2013 he was appointed as the opposition Homeland Union’s shadow Minister of Culture in a conservative “shadow cabinet.”

Vytautas Juozapaitis became a Member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) on 16 November 2012, having been elected via the Homeland Union party list.

Earlier in his career, from 1999 to 2001 he was one of the founders and a deputy chairman of the Homeland People’s Party (Tėvynės liaudies partija).

He is a member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat party and its parliamentary faction in the Seimas.

During the 2020–2024 term, Juozapaitis was Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Culture.

He also served as a member of the Freedom Fights and State Historical Memory Commission in the Seimas from 2020 until 2024.

He was a member of the Seimas Migration Commission from April 2015 to November 2016.

From 1 January 2014 to 14 November 2016 he served as a member of the Seimas Education, Science and Culture Committee.

He was a member of the Seimas Commission for the Lithuanian World Community (diaspora) during 2013–2016 and again in 2020–2024.

From November 2012 to April 2015 he served as a member of the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission.

In the 2023 Kaunas mayoral election, Juozapaitis (as the TS-LKD candidate) placed third, receiving 12,811 votes (about 9.8%). He was surpassed by incumbent Visvaldas Matijošaitis (around 77,750 votes, ~59.7%) and by LVŽS candidate Aurelijus Veryga (~16,636 votes, ~12.8%). Matijošaitis was re-elected in the first round.

In the 2020 parliamentary election, Juozapaitis switched to Kaunas and won the Aleksotas–Vilijampolė constituency. He led the first round with about 5,153 votes (29.8%) and then won the runoff with 56.84% of the vote, defeating Karolina Žekaitė (LVŽS/“Vieningas Kaunas”).

In the 2016 Seimas elections, he again ran in the Radviliškis single-member constituency. Juozapaitis finished second in the first round with 16.96% of the vote, advancing to the runoff, where he was defeated by LVŽS candidate Aurimas Gaidžiūnas (Juozapaitis received about 29.13% in the second round against Gaidžiūnas’s 67.74%).

In the 2012 Seimas elections Juozapaitis ran in the Radviliškis single-member constituency but finished third in the first round, failing to advance to the runoff (Algimantas Salamakinas of LSDP led with 30.75% and Zita Žvikienė of DP was second with 19.72%).

In the 2012 parliamentary elections, Juozapaitis secured a Seimas seat via the Tėvynės sąjunga (TS-LKD) multi-member list, ranking 9th among the party’s candidates after preferential votes were tallied (TS-LKD won 12 proportional mandates that year).

In the 2012 parliamentary elections, Juozapaitis ran in the Radviliškis single-member constituency (his hometown) where his main opponent was Algimantas Salamakinas.

As a Member of Seimas, Juozapaitis earns a state salary. An ordinary Seimas member’s gross monthly pay in recent years is roughly around €3,500–€4,000 (approx. €2,500 net) depending on tenure and position (estimated).

According to his 2022 public asset declaration, Juozapaitis and his family owned residential real estate valued at approximately €210,590. This made him one of the top three MPs in terms of declared private house value that year.

In 2019, a rank-and-file Seimas member’s official monthly salary was €3,356 (gross, before taxes), not including additional pay for parliamentary leadership duties.

By 2015, Juozapaitis’s publicly declared wealth (with his spouse) amounted to over 1.02 million litų (~€296,000) in assets, along with LTL 64,362 (~€18,600) in cash savings.

During the 2012 parliamentary elections, Juozapaitis and his wife declared assets totaling about 1.16 million litų (approximately €336,000).

He is a member of the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union.

He serves as a Goodwill Ambassador of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Žmogaus teisių stebėjimo institutas).

He is also a volunteer supporter (rėmėjas) of the Lithuanian police.

Juozapaitis’s wife Eglė Juozapaitienė has been closely involved in his professional activities. Since 15 November 2012, she has served as the director of the Vytautas Juozapaitis Education, Culture and Art Center (the public institution he founded). She is also a member of the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union (a detail that Juozapaitis initially omitted in his interests declaration).

In 2018 the Seimas Ethics Commission found that Juozapaitis had failed to fully declare some private interests: he omitted the workplaces of one daughter (a deputy director at the state orchestra "Trimitas"), another daughter (an employee at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre), and his son-in-law (head of a dance studio).

After losing the 2023 Kaunas mayoral election to Visvaldas Matijošaitis, Juozapaitis stated that having a leader "collaborating with a pro-fascist Russia" in power was a national security concern for all of Lithuania.

In 2022, as Seimas Culture Committee Chairman, Juozapaitis remarked about the Kremlin’s war: “All that Putin and his henchmen can do is destroy culture and peaceful civilians.”

In 2013 Juozapaitis noted that a significant portion of his income was earned abroad (and taxed outside Lithuania), which explained why his personal income tax paid in Lithuania was relatively low.

He was awarded the "Auksinis scenos kryžius" (Golden Stage Cross) theatrical award in 2006.

He is a laureate of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, which he received in 2004.

In 2003 he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order "For Merits to Lithuania".

In 1999 he received the "Kristoforas" Award (St. Christopher Prize) for his performance as Guglielmo in Mozart’s opera "Così fan tutte."

Juozapaitis won Lithuania’s first national vocalists’ competition in 1992 and was also a diploma recipient at the International Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition in 1992.