The Kaskados Piano Trio officially started playing together in 1997, yet its members, Albina Šikšniūtė (piano), Rusnė Mataitytė (violin) and Edmundas Kulikauskas (cello), had been known as soloists and members of other chamber music ensembles well before that. Joining together into a regularly performing ensemble, with a repertoire demanding highly professional skills, was a crucial and ambitious step in the careers of the three musicians, given their active participation in other spheres of musical life. All three musicians are closely related by the experience they gained during their studies at approximately the same time at the Moscow Conservatoire. Mataitytė and Šikšniūtė performed as a duet during their five-year postgraduate studies at the Conservatoire. The birth of the Kaskados Piano Trio resulted naturally from the interaction between the times and the experience and the inner demand to play in an ensemble. The trio has consequently become one of the most active chamber music ensembles in Lithuania. It has given numerous performances at the main Lithuanian festivals, such as Gaida, the St. Christopher Summer Festival, the Thomas Mann Festival and the Pažaislis Festival. The trio has also appeared in Austria, Germany, Russia and Sweden. The year 2002 was particularly successful as the Trio won the First Prize at the 9th International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Portschach, Austria. In 2005 they were awarded the Golden Disc prize by the Lithuanian Musical Society.

Lithuanian audiences follow the Kaskados Piano Trio with great interest and anticipation, as it prepares a number of new programmes each year. As well as chamber music, the Trio participates in other projects having performed, for instance, the solo parts in Beethoven’s Concerto for violin, cello and piano in C major with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Their most recent (2005) concert performances include a cycle of complete Beethoven’s trios and an innovative project combining contemporary Lithuanian music with on-stage improvisations by famous Lihuanian artist Stasys Eidrigevicius.
 
The repertoire of the Trio embraces different genres from all periods, among which Romantic music is played with particular enthusiasm. In addition to this, much of their interpretational energy has been devoted to contemporary Lithuanian music. As a rule, new pieces by Lithuanian composers appear in their repertoire every year. A number of composers appreciate the professional skills and artistic imagination of the Kaskados Piano Trio: Loreta Narvilaitė and Algirdas Martinaitis have written new compositions for the ensemble, whereas Osvaldas Balakauskas, Feliksas Bajoras and Bronius Kutavičius, Arvydas Malcys have made transcriptions of their earlier works for the Trio.

The distinct style of the Kaskados Piano Trio, widely acknowledged by both Lithuanian and foreign critics, encompasses harmony and integrity, striking combination of expressive approaches, strict stylistic orientation, deep understanding of the sonoric quality of all three instruments, and precise and firm technique.

The pianist Albina Šikšniūtė is a graduate of the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts and the Moscow Conservatoire, where she studied under Professor Drąsutienė and Professor Nosov, respectively She has won prizes at international piano competitions in the Czech Republic (1977) and France (1999). Albina Šikšniūtė has given recitals and performed with chamber music ensembles and chamber orchestras from Vilnius, Prague, Moscow and Alma Ata. She has appeared in concert halls in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Turkey and Latvia. Since 1991, as a soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles, she has participated regularly at the annual international festival Ost-West Musikfest in Austria. In 1995, she recorded a CD of three of Bach’s clavier concertos with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Saulius Sondeckis. Another CD was released in collaboration with Mataitytė, Zimmermann and Kulikauskas, and includes works by Osvaldas Balakauskas. Šikšniūtė combines her concert activities with teaching at the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts and at the Lithuanian Academy of Music; her students have participated in numerous international competitions. She also teaches at the summer masterclasses for children in Krems am der Donau, Austria.

The violonist Rusnė Mataitytė graduated from the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts (under Professor Radovich) and the Moscow P. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire (under Professor Valeri Klimov) and also completed postgraduate studies their under Professor Igor Bezrodny. She has won prizes at the David Oistrach and Ludwig Spohr international violin competitions. For a number of years, she was the leader of the Gottingen Symphony Orchestra and the Gottingen Chamber Orchestra in Germany. Mataitytė has given concerts in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Yugoslavia and Greece. Leading contemporary Lithuanian composers Algirdas Martinaitis,Osvaldas Balakauskas and British composer Sadie Harrison have written violin concertos dedicated to Rusne, which she premiered with the Lithuanian National Symphony and St. Christopherus Chamber Orchestras. She appeared at festivals in Newbury and Aldeburgh in Great Britain and Europa Musicale in Germany, and gave concerts at the Carnegie Hall in New York and St.John’s Smith Square in London. She has participated in the recording of three CDs released by Proud Sound, ASV (England) and BIS (Sweden). Rusne has been a member of the Tate Ensemble (London) and, since 2002, of the Gaida ensemble (Vilnius).

The cellist Edmundas Kulikauskas studied at the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts under Domas Svirskis and Romanas Armonas, and at the Moscow P.Tchaikovsky Conservatoire under Professor Shachovskaya. From 1986 to 1989, he was a cello teacher at the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, and later continued as a member of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Lithuanian String Quartet. Since 1996 he is the principal cello of the National Symphony Orchestra and also the lead cellist in the Gaida chamber music ensemble. Edmundas collaborated in a number of CD recordings, took part in numerous concerts in Europe, Japan and Israel, and recently performed with the Ysaye Quartet at the Vilnius Festival.