Lithuanian conductor Juozas Domarkas studied clarinet at the Lithuanian Conservatoire under J. Jasenka and graduated in 1965 from the Leningrad Conservatoire where he studied conducting with Ilya Musin. In 1963 he attended masterclasses of Igor Markevitch in Moscow.

In 1964 Juozas Domarkas became the artistic director and principal conductor of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. He has led the LNSO in numerous festivals, including “Stars of Moscow”, “Russian Winter”, “Warsaw Autumn”, “Prague Spring”, Schleswig-Holstein and international contemporary music festivals in St. Petersburg. Juozas Domarkas is regularly invited to conduct the best international orchestras. He is widely recognized for his interpretations of contemporary music. Many of today’s composers entrust Juozas Domarkas with the first performances of their new opuses, and dedicate new compositions to him as well.

In 1988–1991 and 1995 Domarkas conducted the Baltic Academy (Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn and St. Petersburg) Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Since 1968 Domarkas has been teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. In 1972–1991 he led the students’ symphony orchestra, and since 1995 he has been the head of the Conducting Department.

Since 1975 he has been organising concerts of young Lithuanian performers together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, which has grown into the festival “Atzhalynas”. He is the founder and artistic director of this festival.