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National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Friday, February 9, 2024 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Adult: $45-$89
Student: $17.50
Youth (18 & under): $7.50
Buyers choose their own assigned seats for this presentation at Mechanics Hall.
PRE-CONCERT TALK
Join us in Washburn Hall at 7:00 PM for a pre-concert talk from choral conductor Oleksandr “Alex” Kreshchuk, free and open to all ticket holders.
Music Worcester thanks the following supporters of this presentation:
The Inaugural Arthur M. & Martha R. Pappas Foundation Concert
Music Worcester welcomes the return of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine for its first post-pandemic performance in Worcester, following their last appearance in Music Worcester’s 2019-2020 Season at historic Mechanics Hall.
Program
BEREZOVSKY
Symphony No. 1 in C Major
SAINT-SAENS
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, op. 22
DVORAK
Symphony No. 8, op. 88, B.163, G major
Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor
Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano soloist
Volodymyr Sirenko, artistic director & conductor
Born in the Poltava region of Ukraine, Volodymyr Sirenko has been compared by the international press to other brilliant conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Simon Rattle.
His conducting debut took place at the Kyiv Philharmonic Hall in 1983 with works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Boulez. In 1989 Sirenko graduated from the Kyiv Conservatoire where he studied conducting under Prof. Allin Vlasenko. In 1990, he was a finalist at the International Conducting Competition in Prague. A year later, he was appointed as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position which he held until 1999. During this period he made over 300 recordings that are kept in the funds of the Ukrainian Radio and include Mozart Symphonies Nos. 38 and 41, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Brahms A German Requiem, Rachmaninov Bells, Dvorak Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9.
From 1999 he is the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Highlights among hundreds of programmes that he has performed with the orchestra since then were cycles Gustav Mahler Complete Symphonies, Bach all four Passions and Mass in B Minor, Lyatoshynsky Complete Symphonies. He recorded over 50 compact discs and the CD of Silvestrov’s Requiem for Larissa was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005. He premiered many works by Ukrainian composers including Silvestrov’s Symphonies No. 7 and 8, Stankovych’s Symphony No. 6.
Sirenko has toured Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, China, Korea, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
He has worked with many international orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Sinfonia Warsovia, NOSPR (Katowice), the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the Bratislava Radio Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Sirenko has appeared in numerous concert halls around the world, including Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Brucknerhaus (Linz), Barbican Hall and Cadogan Hall (London), Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Opera Comique (Paris), Seoul Art Center, Palau de la Musica in Valencia and Centro Manuel de Falla in Granada, Filharmonia Narodowa (Warsaw), the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and the Great Hall of St. Petersburg Philharmonia, the Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), the Tokyo City Opera and the Osaka Symphony Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Center of Performing Arts.
Volodymyr Sirenko is a People’s Artist of Ukraine and laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, Ukraine’s most prestigious award. He is Professor of the opera and symphonic conducting at the National Music Academy of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano
Described by critics as possessing “incredible technique and deep musical understanding”, “The pianist is simply superb!”, “The phenomenon in concert is a rare one”, “Mystically powerful pianist”, “A grand display of skill and precision that was breathtaking”, Volodymyr Vynnytsky has performed in recital in such countries as USA, France, England, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa among many others.
Internationally renowned pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky is laureate of the Margueritte Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris. Vynnytsky has performed with leading orchestras and appeared in solo recitals in many prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Steinway Hall, the Phillips Gallery in Washington D.C., the Great (Bolshoi) Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, Théatre des Champs-Elysées (Paris, France), Amphitheatre Richelieu de la Sorbonne, Salons de Boffrand de la Presidence du Senat in Paris, St. John’s Smith Square in London, Philharmonic Big Hall of Columns (Kyiv), Lviv Philharmonic Hall Odesa Philharmonic Theatre in Ukraine, Dunken Kulturhus (Helsingborg, Sweden), The Queen’s Hall (the Dronningesalen Auditorium, Copenhagen, Denmark), Salle de Concert Marie-Stephane (École de musique Vincent d’Indy, Montreal, Canada), Teatro de Santa Isabel in Recife (Brazil), Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg and Baxter Theatre Centre Concert Hall in Cape Town (South Africa), Tsai Performance Center (Boston), Sacrest Auditorium (Zanesville OH), Hylton Performing Arts Center (George Mason University, VA), Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre (VA), Moss Arts Center (Virginia Tech University), Schar Center (Elon University, NC), State Theatre New Jersey (New Brunswick), Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (NY), Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State Eisenhower Auditorium (Pennsylvania State University), Millard Auditorium(University of Hartford, CT), Herbert Zipper Concert Hall (Los Angeles, CA), Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale (AZ), Hill Auditorium (UofM, Ann Arbor, MI), Carpenter Theatre Dominion Energy Center (Richmond, VA) among many others.
A popular television and radio guest, he has also been featured on NHK-TV (Japan) and in the United States on WQXR-FM in New York, and nationally on NPR.
Recital and chamber music appearances have included guest invitations in numerous International Festivals in Ukraine (Kyiv Music Fest, “Virtuosi”, “Contrasts”, “Bridge of Alexandre III”), France (Masters de Pontlevoy, “Les MusiCimes”, “DSCH”), Brazil (“Virtuosi”), Curacao (Art in Avila), Canada (Niagara International Chamber Music Festival), Czech Republic (“American Spring” Festival) and USA (Artosphere Arts Festival, Chamber Players International, LWMF, Mohonk Festival of the Arts, Windham Chamber Music Festival, Southampton Festival of the Arts, Lake San Marcos Chamber Music Society, Music Mountain in Connecticut, Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston , Rachmaninoff International Festival in Los Angeles, “Music at the Institute” in New York and Art Center of Greene County.
Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Volodymyr Vynnytsky studied at the Lviv Music School for Gifted Children and later at the Moscow Conservatory. After earning his doctorate from the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Yevgeny Malinin, he taught at the Kyiv Conservatory and concertized extensively throughout the world.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky has been a visiting member of the piano faculty in SUNY at Purchase, NY and at the University of Connecticut.
Volodymyr served as a Chairman of the Jury of the Emil Gilels International Piano Competition in Odesa, Ukraine.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky have made an extensive North American tour in February of 2020 as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, one of the finest Symphony Orchestras in Europe. This tour was managed by Columbia Artists, a legendary organization in the performing arts industry, a global leader in artist management.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky is an Honorary Professor of Lviv State Academy of Music, Odesa State Music Academy and Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory). He is Director of Chamber Music at the College of Charleston, Charleston, SC and Music Director of the Music and Art Center of Greene County, New York.
On Youtube
NSOU
Enjoy more videos of NSOU recordings and performances on YouTube: