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LEWISBURG — The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (NSOU) will take to the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, 525 Weis Drive, Lewisburg.
Volodymyr Sirenko serves as artistic director and chief conductor, and Volodymyr Vynnytsky will be featured on piano.
Formed by the Council of Ministers of Ukraine in November 1918, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is considered to be one of the finest symphony orchestras in Eastern Europe. This is the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine’s fourth tour of the United States.
At the Weis Center, they will perform:
• Maksym Berezovsky: Symphony No. 1 in C major
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 (featuring Vynnytsky)
• Antonin Dvorák: Symphony No. 8, Op. 88, B. 163 in G major
The Orchestra has gained international recognition over a remarkably short period of time.
Since 1993, the NSOU has released more than 100 sound recordings which include both Ukrainian and international repertoires. Most of these recordings have received the highest international acclaim.
With playing described as “mystically powerful,” “rare,” and “simply superb,” possessing “incredible technique and deep musical understanding,” pianist Vynnytsky has performed in recitals throughout the United States, France, England, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, among many others.
Vynnytsky is a laureate of the Margueritte Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris. Vynnytsky has performed with leading orchestras and appeared in solo recitals in many prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Steinway Hall, the Phillips Gallery in Washington D.C., and many prestigious halls across Europe and Asia.
A popular television and radio guest, he has also been featured on NHK-TV (Japan) and in the United States on WQXR-FM in New York, as well as nationally on NPR.
Along with appearances around the world, Vynnytsky has performed at such American festivals as Artosphere Arts Festival, Chamber Players International, LWMF, Mohonk Festival of the Arts, Windham Chamber Music Festival, Southampton Festival of the Arts, Lake San Marcos Chamber Music Society, Music Mountain in Connecticut, Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston, Rachmaninoff International Festival in Los Angeles, “Music at the Institute” in New York and Art Center of Greene County.
Born in Lviv, Ukraine, the renowned pianist studied at the Lviv Music School for Gifted Children and later at the Moscow Conservatory. After earning his doctorate from the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Yevgeny Malinin, he taught at the Kyiv Conservatory and concertized extensively throughout the world.
Vynnytsky has been a visiting member of the piano faculty in SUNY at Purchase, New York, and at the University of Connecticut. He served as a chairman of the Jury of the Emil Gilels International Piano Competition in Odesa, Ukraine, and is an honorary professor of Lviv State Academy of Music, Odesa State Music Academy and Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory). He is director of Chamber Music at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, and music director of the Music and Art Center of Greene County, New York.
Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-577-1000 or online at Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice.
For more information about this event, contact Lisa Leighton, marketing and outreach director, at 570-577-3727 or at [email protected].