Pianist Vitalij Kuprij to debut at Carnegie (02/14/99)

Pianist Vitalij Kuprij to debut at Carnegie

NEW YORK - Ukrainian pianist Vitalij Kuprij, currently a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, will make his Carnegie Hall debut in a featured concert with the New York Youth Symphony on Sunday, March 7.

Music critics have referred to the 25-year-old pianist as an astonishing, powerful and confident virtuoso. Internationally renowned flutist James Galway, who chose Mr. Kuprij as his accompanist for the 1995 International Flute Seminar masterclasses held in Weggis, Switzerland, considers him to be "... one of the most outstanding players of his generation."

Mr. Kuprij was born in Volodarka, Kyiv Oblast, in 1974. He studied piano with Nina Najditsch at Kyiv's Mykola Lysenko Music Academy for Talented Students. He won the gold medal in the Kyiv Conservatory Competition at the age of 13 and was awarded first prize as the youngest performer in the All-Union Chopin Competition held in Kazan, Russia (1990) and First Prize in the Lysenko Competition in Kyiv (1992).

Prior to coming to the United States, he was a student of Rudolph Buchbinder at the Basel Conservatory in Switzerland. He received first prize in the Geneva Duo Competition for Violin and Piano in Switzerland (1993), Piano 80 (1994) and the Swiss Youth Competition (1994).

Mr. Kuprij is continuing his music studies with Gary Graffman, president and director of the Curtis Institute of Music.

He has been much in demand as a soloist, recitalist and as a chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad, including France, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. In addition, as a composer, he often performs his own works in concert.

Mr. Kuprij is at home also in the world of rock; his music has been highly successful overseas, especially in Japan. Shrapnel Records, with whom he records, has released three CDs - two with his band, Artension, titled "Into the Eye of the Storm" and "Phoenix Rising," and two solo instrumental albums, "High Definition" and "Extreme Measures."

Mr. Kuprij will perform with the NYYS in one of the three concerts of the symphony's 1989-1999 season. The opening concert (held in December 1998) featured renowned clarinetist Richard Stoltzman; the closing concert, to be held May 23, will feature internationally renowned violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. The 100-member New York Youth Symphony orchestra is under the direction of Mischa Santora, winner of the 1998 Aspen Prize, who is currently in his second season as music director.

The concert program will include: Brahms, "Tragic Overture"; Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1; Kevin Putz, "Concerto for Everyone" (world premiere commissioned by the orchestra); and De Falla, Suite No. 2 from "The Three-Cornered Hat."

The concert begins at 2 p.m. Both general admission tickets at $5 and reserved seating at higher prices are available by calling NYYS at (212) 581-5933.

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