Jeronimas Kačinskas

Who was Jeronimas Kačinskas?

Jeronimas Kačinskas was a Lithuanian-born American composer.

Kačinskas was born in Viduklė, Lithuania, to the family of a church organist. He studied music at the National Conservatory of Lithuania in Klaipėda and at the Prague Conservatory. He later taught at the State Conservatory in Vilnius. His Nonet was premiered in London in 1938, and he married Elena Šlevaitė in 1941. In 1944, they escaped from Lithuania and travelled through Poland into Germany, where they were finally rescued by American troops.

In 1949, they arrived in the United States, and Kačinskas became a church organist and choirmaster in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1967 to 1986, he taught at Berklee College of Music.

In 1991 he was awarded Lithuanian National Prize.