Accompanists of the Competition 2021:

Ruta Blaškytė
Ruta Blaškytė graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music. She finished her Art Doctorate at the LAM in 2001.
In the years 2006-2013 Ruta Blaškytė was an accompanist in Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Now she is working as a pianist-accompanist in the Kaunas State Musical Theatre and Vytautas Magnus University Music academy.

Jaanika Rand-Sirp
has graduated from the piano class of prof. L. Mets at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 1996. In 2002 she defended there also her Master’s as an accompanist. She is working as a teacher of the chamber ensemble at the H. Eller Tartu Music School since 1996. In 1996 – 2013 she worked at Theatre Vanemuine as the executive concertmaster-teacher and from 2013 Jaanika Rand-Sirp is the concertmaster-teacher of vocalists at the National Opera Estonia.
In 2003 she received the scholarship of the International Association of Richard Wagner Societies. Jaanika Rand-Sirp is an active chamber musician and a musical partner to many singers and instrumentalists. She has been the pianist of the Klaudia Taev Competition since 2013.

Ashot Drnayan-Babrouski
obtained his Master’s and Bachelor’s degree at the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno in 2009. His specialty was music art. Before that, he graduated from Minsk State College of the Arts in 2002 as a pianist.
Ashot has worked at the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus as a vocal accompanist and as a member of the symphonic orchestra. Also, he has worked at the Belarusian State Academy of Music and at Svisloch School of the Arts as a piano teacher and a concertmaster. His opera repertoire is wide and includes all well know operas, but also Prima la musica by Salieri, The Impresario by Mozart, Rita by Donizetti, La voix humaine by Francis Poulenc, Stabat Mater by G. Pergolesi, Snegurochka by Rimsky-Korsakov, and others.
Since March 2015 Ashot has worked for 3 years in the Estonian National Opera as a vocal accompanist and pianist and from the season 2018/19, he is a vocal accompanist in Wroclaw Opera in Poland.
Awards – Best accompanist diploma in the 11th International Klaudia Taev Competition in Estonia (2019)
Conditions for using a pianist provided by the Competition
- The use of a pianist for the audition in the First round costs 15-25 EUR if it is not organized differently.
- The pianist is provided FREE of charge for up to 20 minutes of preparation for the 2nd and 3rd rounds and up to 30 minutes for the 4th round.
- Extra rehearsal time (also for the final round) can be arranged by personal agreement with a pianist for 5 EUR per 5 minutes.
- Participants themselves must provide the pianist with all music needed! Be ready to send scores if asked at least 2 weeks before the competition round.
- Participants are allowed to bring their own pianist.