KC DAUGIRDAS
Kc (Kestutis) Daugirdas is a composer, producer, performer, and educator based in Chicago, IL. Lyrical and cinematic, his music has been featured in films, commercials, and concert programs around the world. He is also a choral director, certified teacher, and arranger.
Highlights in brief:
Choral Writing
Plaudite, Psallite (SSAATTBB) won first prize at the Vox Juventutis composition contest in Vilnius, Lithuania (2022), and has since been published by Walton Music as part of the Andrew Crane Choral Series. It was selected as a JW Pepper Editor’s Choice Pick.
Two of my folk song arrangements, Užaugo liepa (SSAA, piano) and Leliumai (SATB, piano), were selected for the centennial Lithuanian Song Festival in Vilnius in 2024, Featuring 15,000 singers from around Lithuania and the world.
“The Singing Revolution,” [2015] is a 5-movement choral cantata that traces the Lithuanian struggle for freedom from the USSR, commissioned for the 10th North American Lithuanian Song Festival. On July 5, 2015, it premiered with a chorus of 1,400 singers and symphonic band at the UIC Pavilion.
As a choral artist, I have sung tenor with:
- Jauna Muzika (professional chamber ensemble, Vilnius, Lithuania)
- Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles
- The Silver Lake Chorus
- Dainava Lithuanian Chorale (Lemont, IL)
Ads
National TV and theatrical commercials for Coca Cola, Bud Light, & Cricket Wireless, as well as dozens of online promos and campaigns.
Musical Theatre
I AM DIFFERENT (Lithuanian: “Aš Kitoks”) is an original new musical about an intrepid frog named Toots who is born orange in a pond full of green frogs. Bullied and excluded, he finds an unlikely friend in the young storkling Aura. Based on the illustrated story by Rolandas Dabrukas, with book by Edita Simone, this story highlights important contemporary issues of diversity and inclusion. Premiered Feb 2022, Lemont HS Performing Arts Center [Composer, co-lyricist, co-producer]
MEET ME THERE: THE INTERFAITH MUSICAL (in development), written by Ruth Broyde Sharone based on her experiences as an activist and organizer in the interfaith community. Her musical depicts this colorful, idiosyncratic world with poignancy and humor.
Since 2014, I have worked with Ruth as her piano/vocal arranger, developing her song sketches into polished final products. Together we have developed over 30 songs for this project. I also sang on many of the demos, which was health stretch for me!
Film Score
Orchestrations for POKEMON: I Choose You, scores for short film and animation, including the award-winning “Lord of Catan,” the story of an normal couple descending into madness over a game of Settlers of Catan, starring Amy Acker and Fran Kranz. For more credits, visit the CREDITS page.
Conducting
Directed “Los Angelai” and “Tolimi Aidai” in Los Angeles, two community ensembles dedicated to performing Lithuanian choral repertoire. Guest conductor at the Lithuanian Youth Song Festival (6,000-singer chorus) in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 6th, 2016.
MA (Composition) recipient from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania. Graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA with a diploma in Film Scoring. For his final project, he collaborated with composer Sheldon Mirowitz and 7 student composers to create and conduct a new, original score for the 1929 silent film “Piccadilly”, commissioned by the Coolidge Corner Theatre, and premiered May 7th, 2012, with a live orchestra.
Graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A., Choral Music Education). Directed the collegiate men’s a cappella group “The Xtension Chords.” Certified K-12 Music Teacher.
Fun Miscellaneous Hollywood Facts:
- Appeared in an episode of VEEP as a White House Christmas party caroler
- Appeared in a Google commercial featuring a motley crowd singing “Just The Two Of Us”
Also co-founded of Elevant Productions, a video production company specializing in videos for Kickstarter and crowdfunding campaigns. Aside from producing and directing, Kc writes all the soundtracks for the company’s projects (of course!)
RANDOM FACTS
Fluent Lithuanian
Have been tying own shoes for years now