Ionas Izidorjaus Shviadas

(also Jonas Izidoriaus Švedas). Born Sept. 26 (Oct. 9), 1908, in Liepāja, now in the Latvian SSR; died Oct. 15,1971, in Vilnius. Soviet composer, choral director, and teacher. People’s Artist of the USSR (1954).

In 1929, Shviadas graduated from the Klaipeda School of Music, where he had studied trombone and, under S. Šimkus and J. Žilēvičius, composition. From 1930 to 1935 he played in the orchestra of the Kaunas Theater. In 1940 he founded the Lietuva State Song and Dance Ensemble of the Lithuanian SSR, which he headed until 1962. Until 1970 he was the principal conductor at the festivals of song.

Shviadas notated and arranged examples of folk music. Many of his songs and compositions for folk instruments are based on elements of national folklore and have become widely known. Among Shviadas’ most important compositions are his cantata in honor of the tenth anniversary of Soviet Lithuania (1949) and the cantata Flourish, Soviet Lithuania (1960). With B. Dvarionas he wrote the music for the national anthem of the Lithuanian SSR.

Shviadas began teaching trombone at the Kaunas Conservatory in 1935. In 1945 he became head of the subdepartment of folk instruments at the State Conservatory of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius, where he was appointed a professor in 1967. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950. Shviadas was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.