Pianist Roman Rudnytsky performs with Zaporizhia's symphony orchestra (12/07/03)

Pianist Roman Rudnytsky performs with Zaporizhia's symphony orchestra

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky traveled to Ukraine in mid-October to perform as soloist with the symphony orchestra of the city of Zaporizhia on October 24. He performed the Schumann Concerto in A minor. The conductor for this concert was Vadim Gnedash from Kyiv. The orchestra in its part of the program played the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1.

The concert took place in the Mikhail Glinka Concert Hall - the main concert hall of the city - and the hall was filled to capacity. Mr. Rudnytsky received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his performance.

During his days there, he was interviewed on a live TV program broadcast to the whole Zaporizhia Oblast. Mr. Rudnytsky also talked to and performed for the music students of the Platon Maiboroda Secondary Music School ("uchylysche") in Zaporizhia. He also traveled to the regional town of Orikhiv - about 35 miles from Zaporizhia - to be a special guest at a concert in the cultural hall of that town, honoring the memory of his mother, opera singer Maria Sokil-Rudnytsky, who grew up in the area. At this concert, announcements were made that plans are afoot to name the music school in Orikhiv after Ms. Sokil and also establish a vocal competition named after her in Zaporizhia. The competional would be national at first but in several years' time, would very likely become international in scope.

After his concert in Zaporizhia, Mr. Rudnytsky traveled to Britain, where he played five recitals. He has performed frequently in Britain - two or three times annually - and his previous concert trip there was last June.

Mr. Rudnytsky has now played in nearly 80 countries of the world.

After the conclusion of his 13th Australian tour last summer (17 concerts), he went to the eastern Caribbean in mid-September to play four recitals - on the islands of Barbados, Grenada, and St. Vincent - organized through the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Barbados. Mr. Rudnytsky has played in 27 countries since 1984 under the auspices of U.S. Embassies - first, through the U.S. International Service (USIS) and then, since this agency's abolishment in 1999, through the "public diplomacy" programs of the Embassies.

His most recent concerts took place between November 8 and 11, when he played recitals and conducted master classes at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln and the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Mr. Rudnytsky's next concerts will take place aboard the cruise ship Oriana of the British P&O Co. This cruise, from December 26 to January 9, 2004, will begin and end in Barbados and will call at the following ports: Aruba, Colon (Panama - at the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal), Limon (Costa Rica), Grand Cayman Island, Costa Maya (Mexico), the island of Cozumel (Mexico), Ochos Rios (Jamaica), and the island of St. Lucia. Mr. Rudnytsky will play six different recital programs on board. This will be his 30th cruise for P&O as classical pianist on board (and 33rd in all).

His concerts in 2004 so far will take place in such places as Britain, Southeast Asia (Brunei, Sarawak, Sabah, Thailand), Poland (soloist with the orchestra of Lublin in the Prokofieff Concerto No. 1 in D Flat in early April), Pacific islands of Micronesia, and parts of Latin America, as well as at least one P&O cruise. He will also play in Barbados in late March as part of the main music festival there, called the "Holders Festival," having being invited to do so after his recital at the Ambassador's Residence in Barbados last September.

On August 14, 2004, Mr. Rudnytsky will play his first recital in the "Music at the Grazhda" summer concert in New York State.

Mr. Rudnytsky continues as a member of the piano faculty of the Dana School of Music of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, where he has been since 1972.

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