Antanas Pocius

Antanas Pocius (19 August 1913 – 1 April 1983) was a Lithuanian choirmaster, organist and composer.

Early life and career Antanas Pocius was born on 19 August 1913, in Pagiriai village, close to Tauragė in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania) in a very poor family and received the name of his grandfather, a village musician. A. Pocius was born very weak but survived infancy nevertheless and was the fifth child in the family. Due to challenging economic conditions, all the children would serve as shepherds, with A. Pocius starting at the age of four. Antanas' father Petras Pocius fought in the First World War and got his lungs injured, which resulted in the development of tuberculosis. He died when Antanas Pocius was only 12 years old, leaving the family in even tougher economic conditions.