CONCERT NOTES: Soroka and Greene in Florida (03/11/01)

CONCERT NOTES: Soroka and Greene in Florida

NORTH PORT, Fla. - Ukrainian violinist Solomia Soroka, who made her American recital debut in 1997, and critically acclaimed pianist Arthur Greene, will appear in a series of concerts in southwest Florida.

On March 16 and 17, Ms. Soroka will appear as guest soloist with the Venice Symphony Orchestra, Wesley John Schumacher, conducting, in a program of works by Sir William Walton, Grieg, Skoryk, Tchaikovsky and Vieuxtemps. The concerts will be held at the Church of the Nazarene in Venice, Fla.

On March 18, Ms. Soroka and Mr. Greene will give a concert for the community of the North Port area at St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church Parish Hall, as part of a concert series initiated last year by the cultural committee at the parish. Featured in the program will be works by Beethoven, Chopin, Franck, Lysenko, Skoryk and Sonevytsky.

Ms. Soroka, born in Lviv in 1971, is among the most internationally accomplished Ukrainian musicians of her generation. She graduated from the Kyiv State Conservatory in 1995, earning a master's degre summa cum laude, and served on its faculty in the department of violin and chamber music.

Ms. Soroka made her Australian debut in 1994, giving recitals throughout that country and appearanced as a soloist with the Australian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. She also gave the Australian premieres of a number of contemporary Ukrainian compositions for violin, including works by Liatoshynsky, Skoryk and Stankovych.

Ms. Soroka has appeared as soloist and as chamber musician at concerts and festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

Since her American recital debut in Boulder, Colo., she has performed in cities throughout the United States. Her recitals in Washington were programmed as a part of the Smithsonian Institute performing arts series and were reviewed for The Washington Post by Joseph McLellan, who referred to Ms. Soroka as "a superbly equipped violinist, at ease with the technical challenges of Sarasate or of Jeno Hubay's Czardas No. 2, but even more impressive in the gentler moments ..." (February 26, 2000).

At present Ms. Soroka is pursuing her doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where she teaches secondary violin as a teaching assistant to Prof. Charles Castleman.

Pianist Arthur Greene has received critical acclaim as "a profound musician" (The Washington Post), "a masterful pianist" (The New York Times) and, a "stellar Scriabinist" (American Record Guide), to cite a few. His powerful mastery and interpretive sensibility have earned him Gold Medals in the Gina Bachauer and William Kapell International Piano Competitions, and he was the top laureate at the Busoni International Competition.

Mr. Greene has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, RAI Orchestra of Turin, the San Francisco Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the National Symphony of Ukraine and the Tokyo Symphony, and in recitals at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Lisbon Sao Paulo Opera House, Hong Kong City Hall and in concert houses in Shanghai and Beijing. He has performed the complete solo piano works of Brahms in a series of six programs at the Gardiner Museum in Boston, and has recorded the Complete Etudes of Scriabin for Supraphon.

Mr. Greene is chair of the piano department of the Unviersity of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, with degrees from Yale, the Juilliard School, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

The Venice Symphony concerts, with performances on Friday, March 16, at 8 p.m., and on Saturday, March 17, at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., will be held at the Church of the Nazarene, 1535 E. Venice Ave., Venice, Fla. Tickets: $14, $16 and $18; reserved seating. For tickets and information call the symphony office, (941) 488-1010.

The Sunday, March 18, concert, featuring Ms. Soroka and Mr. Greene, will be held at St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church Parish Hall, 1078 N. Biscayne Drive, at 6 p.m. Tickets, $10. For information call Atanas Kobryn, (941) 423-9499.

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