A few days ago I received a phone call from my pianist Ethella Chupryk, she was bubbling over with delight about some article that had appeared in one of the local papers in L'viv. Given the bad connection I thought I heard her say Postup but I was mistaken and never found the article she was referring to.
A day or two went by and then I received a text message from a friend saying the interview with Vlodymyr Kraynyev where he mentions Ethella was L'vivska Hazeta. Once again, the pitch the swing, strike two.
Today I dug around a bit more and found the following interview with Volodymyr Kraynyev, of course its in Ukrainian having been published in Subotnya Poshta.
But when asked about what he knew about the tradition of piano education in L'viv Kraynyev stated that of L'viv pianists from the middle generation he valued Oleksandr Slobodyanyk and from the younger generation, he is thrilled by Ethella Chupryk.
Now I understand why Ethella was so delighted. Such words from such a pianist are clearly high praise.
Everything is constantly in flux, from the music we listen to, to the politics and society around us. uaMuzik is a reflection on Ukrainian music, politics, society, the food I create and technologies.
Showing posts with label Ethella Chupryk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethella Chupryk. Show all posts
Friday, July 11, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Mirror images.... not quite...
In a post just over two weeks ago I noted that it was Ukrainian pianist Ethella Chupryk's birthday, and somewhere along the way a good friend of mine Dirk Lustig, came up to me a the Krayina Mriy festival and says. "I was clicking all over your Multiply site to see where I could listen to the album you recorded with Ethella in Vancouver. Why did you tease me like that?"
I thought about it for a while and was trying to figure out what he was talking about, and then remembered that my blog posts here get mirrored on my Multiply blog... Well Dirk I hope are keeping up with things even though you are at some toy fair in London. Go visit Ethella's MySpace site and you will get a chance to have a listen to two compositions.
The first it called Barcarolla composed by Stanislav Lyudkevych, and the second is called Ildi composed by Yuriy Shtyn, known under the pseudonym Yurok during the days of the art-rock Amok project of Loony Pelen.
Dirk, and everyone else out there, enjoy!
I thought about it for a while and was trying to figure out what he was talking about, and then remembered that my blog posts here get mirrored on my Multiply blog... Well Dirk I hope are keeping up with things even though you are at some toy fair in London. Go visit Ethella's MySpace site and you will get a chance to have a listen to two compositions.
The first it called Barcarolla composed by Stanislav Lyudkevych, and the second is called Ildi composed by Yuriy Shtyn, known under the pseudonym Yurok during the days of the art-rock Amok project of Loony Pelen.
Dirk, and everyone else out there, enjoy!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Happy Birthday Ethella Chupryk
Sometimes no matter how hard you try to get the timing right something gets in the way. This was the case with Ethella's birthday gift for this year. It was planned that by now we would have had The Vancouver Collection - Undiscovered Geniuses - Piano Music in our hands and be with Ethella in L'viv to present her with some complementary copies of the Ukrainian release, but that didn't happen so I guess I will have to get on the horn and give my pianist a call to wish her a Happy Birthday or Mnohaia Lita as we say in Ukrainian.
So for those of you who are wondering just what the above mentioned CD is, I will give you a all a sneak preview... and a peek.
The double CD set is a compilation of Ukrainian classical music of well known and some not so well known Ukrainian composers all performed by Ethella Chupryk. Recorded at the UBC School of Music on a wonderfully restored Hamburg Steinway & Sons piano at the beginning of this year. In addition to the Ukrainian composers are Ethella's own transcriptions of well known classical pieces for piano, which are traditionally performed by complete orchestras. These include G. Bizet's Carmen, W.A. Mozart's Requiem (Lacrymosa and Domine Jesu), S. Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances – Watlz 2nd part and P. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Adagio (Pas de Deux)).
The Ukrainian composers on this album include:
The double CD set includes 18 tracks and has a total running time of 81 minutes and 40 seconds.
For a quick listen to other works performed by Ethella but not on this double CD set visit her MySpace page.
So for those of you who are wondering just what the above mentioned CD is, I will give you a all a sneak preview... and a peek.
The double CD set is a compilation of Ukrainian classical music of well known and some not so well known Ukrainian composers all performed by Ethella Chupryk. Recorded at the UBC School of Music on a wonderfully restored Hamburg Steinway & Sons piano at the beginning of this year. In addition to the Ukrainian composers are Ethella's own transcriptions of well known classical pieces for piano, which are traditionally performed by complete orchestras. These include G. Bizet's Carmen, W.A. Mozart's Requiem (Lacrymosa and Domine Jesu), S. Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances – Watlz 2nd part and P. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Adagio (Pas de Deux)).
The Ukrainian composers on this album include:
- Vasyl Barvinsky
- Mykola Kolessa
- Victor Kosenko
- Mykola Lysenko
- Stanislav Lyudkevych
- Levko Revutsky
- Yuriy Shtyn
- Myroslav Skoryk/Ethella Chupryk
The double CD set includes 18 tracks and has a total running time of 81 minutes and 40 seconds.
For a quick listen to other works performed by Ethella but not on this double CD set visit her MySpace page.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Shameless Self Promotion of a Virtuoso
Well as my good friend and blogger Pawlina says over at the Nash Holos blog, "There is nothing wrong with shameless self-promotion!" Hence, I am taking a lesson from her and while it doesn't directly apply it does apply to an artist that I manage. Her name is Ethella Chupryk and I have mentioned her here on this blog and there are tidbits scattered around the Internet about her, but really folks while pictures speak louder than words, so do images and sounds.
The following embedded video is Ethella Chupryk performing the Tannhaeuser Overture also known as the Overture to Tannhaeuser.
The work was orginally composed by Richard Wagner in 1845 for his Opera Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) an opera in three acts.
Later Franz Liszt who was a friend of Wagner's transcribed the overture 1849 in such a way and so closely to the original score that when Wagner heard it to told Liszt "It was like a wonderful dream come true", according to Robert Finley. In addition he adds in his article about the piece, "It is a very difficulty piece to play, containing almost every virtuoso technicality possible such as octaves in both hands, arpeggios, tremolo accompaniment, and two or more melodies playing together at the same time."
When I read the Liszt biography, linked to above, I realized that the virtuosity of Liszt's transcription of this piece could only be performed by someone who dedicates as much time and perfection to a piece as he who wrote it. This is the way Ethella Chupryk understands music, she digs into the core of a piece, the composer, his history to find exactly what he was trying to say. This I can say without a doubt when it comes to the video above, as well as anything she undertakes. This performance took place in 1998 in Bayreuth Germany at the Markgraeflichen Opernhaus.
The following embedded video is Ethella Chupryk performing the Tannhaeuser Overture also known as the Overture to Tannhaeuser.
The work was orginally composed by Richard Wagner in 1845 for his Opera Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) an opera in three acts.
Later Franz Liszt who was a friend of Wagner's transcribed the overture 1849 in such a way and so closely to the original score that when Wagner heard it to told Liszt "It was like a wonderful dream come true", according to Robert Finley. In addition he adds in his article about the piece, "It is a very difficulty piece to play, containing almost every virtuoso technicality possible such as octaves in both hands, arpeggios, tremolo accompaniment, and two or more melodies playing together at the same time."
When I read the Liszt biography, linked to above, I realized that the virtuosity of Liszt's transcription of this piece could only be performed by someone who dedicates as much time and perfection to a piece as he who wrote it. This is the way Ethella Chupryk understands music, she digs into the core of a piece, the composer, his history to find exactly what he was trying to say. This I can say without a doubt when it comes to the video above, as well as anything she undertakes. This performance took place in 1998 in Bayreuth Germany at the Markgraeflichen Opernhaus.
Monday, February 11, 2008
A mysteriously good pianist!
The start of an entry in a deceased friend of mine, Oleksandr Kryvenko (1963-2003), from his book Entsyklopedia nashoho Ukrainoznavstva, published in 1997 started an entry for CHUPRYK, Ethella, with the title of this blog, and that was back in 1997. Over ten years have passed since then, and a lot of water has flown under the bridge.
The following clip is an excerpt of Ethella Chupryk playing Serhiy Rachmaninov's Third Concert for Piano and Orchestra, accompanied by The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, directed by Fedir Hlushchenko. This clip is from a period a number of years earlier, but it will give you a taste of Ms. Chupryk's style.
Enjoy this brief excerpt, I guarantee that in the near future you will have an opportunity to hear a great deal more.
The following clip is an excerpt of Ethella Chupryk playing Serhiy Rachmaninov's Third Concert for Piano and Orchestra, accompanied by The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, directed by Fedir Hlushchenko. This clip is from a period a number of years earlier, but it will give you a taste of Ms. Chupryk's style.
Enjoy this brief excerpt, I guarantee that in the near future you will have an opportunity to hear a great deal more.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
In search of a Piano
It is not everyday that I have the possibility to talk with a world class pianist but that happened last week. Her name is Ethella Chupryk, a winner of many different piano competitions, including The Lysenko Competition in L'viv, The Rachmaninov Competition in Moscow, and she was in Kyiv to both check out studio's and the pianos available for recording some classical music.
Like every musician she has her preferences about what type of piano she would like to play on. While I don't know a great deal about pianos, with the exception that I can name about half a dozen brand names; firms like Baldwin, Bechstein, Boston, Estonia, Kimball, Steinway and Yamaha, Ethella Chupryk's choice of all of these is Steinway, and this she made clear as a guest on Rostyslav Styn's Skhidna Liha radio program this past Friday on Radio Continent.
However, there is not a single Steinway in a studio in Kyiv, the main locations are the Philharmonic and the Opera and in fact there aren't very many Steinway's in the entire country. Probably less than a dozen, a fairly reliable source has told me.
So with all the oligarchs in this country who purportedly support the arts, why don't even the different conservatories in Ukraine have Steinway's? They can all drive around in super expensive cars, but really when it comes down to it, its all show and no action.
If the listener's of contemporary music have no idea of what is going on in the music world, then it seems that those who are interested in classical don't seem to care at all about the development in Ukraine's talent.
I recall reading in the latest issue of a Ukainian trade magazine Pro Sound & Light that no one here is interested in investing in the recording of classical music in Ukraine because National Radio of Ukraine has such an archive of classical music there is no need be recording any more classical music. What an absurd statement! I've tried finding the magazine online but the site doesn't seem to be loading as I am writing this. Hopefully, I will be able to include a more complete citation to this comment in the near future.
In any case with such attitudes of professionals in this country, it is no surprise why the industry as where it is.
Like every musician she has her preferences about what type of piano she would like to play on. While I don't know a great deal about pianos, with the exception that I can name about half a dozen brand names; firms like Baldwin, Bechstein, Boston, Estonia, Kimball, Steinway and Yamaha, Ethella Chupryk's choice of all of these is Steinway, and this she made clear as a guest on Rostyslav Styn's Skhidna Liha radio program this past Friday on Radio Continent.
However, there is not a single Steinway in a studio in Kyiv, the main locations are the Philharmonic and the Opera and in fact there aren't very many Steinway's in the entire country. Probably less than a dozen, a fairly reliable source has told me.
So with all the oligarchs in this country who purportedly support the arts, why don't even the different conservatories in Ukraine have Steinway's? They can all drive around in super expensive cars, but really when it comes down to it, its all show and no action.
If the listener's of contemporary music have no idea of what is going on in the music world, then it seems that those who are interested in classical don't seem to care at all about the development in Ukraine's talent.
I recall reading in the latest issue of a Ukainian trade magazine Pro Sound & Light that no one here is interested in investing in the recording of classical music in Ukraine because National Radio of Ukraine has such an archive of classical music there is no need be recording any more classical music. What an absurd statement! I've tried finding the magazine online but the site doesn't seem to be loading as I am writing this. Hopefully, I will be able to include a more complete citation to this comment in the near future.
In any case with such attitudes of professionals in this country, it is no surprise why the industry as where it is.
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