YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky performed concerts on opposite sides of the globe during February and March.
During February, he was in Britain and played 13 recitals there. These took place in a wide variety of towns and cities, namely; Harrogate, Southwell, Halesworth (Suffolk), Upminster, Coventry, Wells, St. Ives, Truro, Cambridge, St. Albans, Brighton, and Aberdeen in northeast Scotland.
He has played many recitals in the United Kingdom over the years and has been soloist with several orchestras there, including three BBC orchestras. In 1990, he gave the British premiere performance of the then-newly discovered Liszt Concerto No.3 in E Flat as soloist with the Worthing Symphony.
He has also played recitals on about 65 cruises of P&O ships and, more recently, of Cunard ships to and from Britain. His concerts over there have not only been on the British mainland but also in the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
In March, Mr. Rudnytsky traveled to the Pacific area for performances on the islands of Guam and Saipan. These are islands where he has played a number of times in the past, and he has made regular visits there over the years. He was on Saipan for the eighth time and, as before, spent two weeks there, playing two regular recitals and shorter recitals in 14 schools on that island – plus one on the neighboring island of Rota. He has been invited to return to Saipan for next year.
The types of pianos he played on ranged from fine grand pianos to electronic instruments. Mr. Rudnytsky says he is always flexible regarding pianos, since there are all kinds he finds in the course of his travels and has no problems playing on electronic pianos, as long as they have all 88 keys and a pedal.
His programs for these recitals included works by such as Haydn, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Albeniz.
The rest of the current year will be busy for Mr. Rudnytsky. From late May through the rest of the year, there will be several domestic recitals (including in Alaska), his 20th Australian tour from late June through late September (24 concerts), recitals as a classical pianist on five Cunard cruises from/to the U.K. – on all three of their ships (Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth) – from early October through early December, more recitals in Britain in-between these cruises and a performance in late December on Guam as soloist with the Guam Territorial Band, where he will perform the first movements of both the Tchaikovsky Concerto No.1 in B Flat minor and the Grieg Concerto in arrangements for band and piano.
Last fall, Mr. Rudnytsky played recitals on five cruises of P&O and Cunard ships, and several recitals in Britain in-between. He also traveled in November to Ireland and in December to Chile, where he had made eight tours between 1992 and 2001. He had discussions at the U.S. Embassy there regarding his plans to have another Chilean tour next year. From Santiago, Chile, he traveled (for the second time) to Easter Island and spent three days there. Easter Island, known in the local Polynesian language as “Rapa Nui,” is under Chilean sovereignty.
Mr. Rudnytsky, a graduate of The Juilliard School, has now played in about 100 countries of the world and is professor emeritus of Youngstown State University (Dana School of Music), where he served on the piano faculty from 1972 until 2011.