Horowitz competition winners perform at New York Consulate (10/31/99)

Horowitz competition winners perform at New York Consulate

by Bohdanna Wolanska

NEW YORK - Flexing their fingers, chatting with the elite musical and diplomatic company present, or simply lost in their own thoughts, four young piano virtuosos prepared for a mini-concert at the Ukraine's Consulate General in New York on Wednesday, October 13.

Winners of Kyiv's third annual Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition, they gazed from the balcony overlooking a backyard park of lush greenery, alcoves, friezes and fountains; their youthful yet determined faces reflected the peace and order of this little oasis so uncharacteristic of New York.

Eagerly awaiting their performance were Prof. Valeriy Kozlov, head of the competition judges' panel, Consul General Aleksandr Ostrovsky of Belarus, Consul Shingo Okazaki of Japan, Ukrainian Consul General Yuriy Bohaievsky, Vice-Consul Hanne Kushniryk and the Consulate staff, representatives of the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Ukrainian Music Institute of America, a half-dozen representatives of other organizations of musical or cultural significance, and, most notably, three generations of Ukrainian pianists of international renown in the persons of Daria Karanowycz, Oleksander Slobodyanyk and Volodymyr Vynnytsky.

Consul General Bohaievsky warmly welcomed this fourth generation of pianists, by all indications soon to be of international renown as well. And he welcomed them proudly, since two of them are Ukrainian.

First to play was 13-year-old Vadym Kholodenko, second-place winner in the youngest age group, performing Revutsky's Prelude, Op. 7. Firmly and warmly the notes unraveled under his sensitive touch, at once still childish and surprisingly assured.

Fifteen-year-old Daniil Shleyenkov from Belarus, second-place winner in the second age group, followed with a rhythmically sharply defined and spirited rendition of Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat, Op. 53, as angular as his adolescent frame.

Then the audience was charmed by 25-year-old Seiko Tsukamoto from Japan, second-place winner in the oldest group and the only woman on the tour, who spun out the grace, intricacy and power of Liszt's paraphrases of Verdi's Rigoletto in traceries of silk, silver and steel, transcending the capabilities of the honest but humble upright piano beneath her fingers.

Finally, the audience was treated to a stirring performance of two Rachmaninoff preludes by 21-year-old Oleksiy Hryniuk, first-place winner in the oldest group. If Ms. Seiko made the piano sing, then Mr. Hryniuk made it roar. The responsibility of bringing home first prize for Ukraine seemed to weigh heavily on him - shoulders leaping almost adversarially into the piano, his long fingers occasionally trembling with intensity and his face the very picture of concentration.

Mr. Hryniuk demonstrated his mastery of the instrument, commanding it to explode in formidable waves of sound, for which the spent but satisfied audience rewarded him with some pretty formidable waves of sound of its own. For an encore he played Horowitz's rendition of Bizet's "Gypsies' Dance" from "Carmen."

Each of the pianists received a bouquet of flowers from Ms. Karanowycz, president of the Ukrainian Music Institute of America, and during the brief but elegantly prepared reception that followed the performance, members of the audience had an opportunity to meet these impeccably well-mannered and refreshingly modest young artists.

For those sceptics who think that Ukrainians won because of patronage or favoritism, let it be known that there were 87 finalists from 18 countries, and 10 judges from seven countries, including Jerome Lowenthal from the Juilliard School of Music (United States) and Warren Thompson, director of the Sydney Institute of Music (Australia).

The importance of competitions like the Horowitz competition to Ukrainian self-identity, culture and international status cannot be overstated.

Under centuries of Russian domination, only the folk aspect of Ukrainian "provincial" culture was allowed to develop, if at all. Potentially world class classical artists were either suppressed altogether, or, if possible, pre-empted into the Russian arts - just think of Hohol (Gogol, in Russian), Bortniansky, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Kozlovsky and many others, the very flower of Ukrainian creativity, that the world still takes for Russians.

Now, under the banner of Vladimir Horowitz, the first pianist of the modern era to be universally recognized as one of the greatest of all time (also widely thought to be a Russian), this competition has not only reclaimed him as a native son of Ukraine, but has created a fitting showcase to make known the depth and quality of Ukrainian classical talent to the rest of the world.

According to Anna Smekhova, the competition's director of international relations, the competition's organizers are now looking for commercial sponsorship to permit better publicized and longer tours for next year's winners, to let the rest of the world know what constructive work is being done in the arts.

Perhaps members of the Ukrainian diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere can give them a hand in contacting potential sponsors. As they strike a blow for Ukrainian culture in the world arena, let us join in wishing them success.

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