Elite chamber music for Bohodar Kotorovych

This soiree is part of a concert series dedicated to the memory of the renowned musician Bohodar Kotorovych. It will be recalled that the maestro is the world’s only musician who was given the honor of giving two concerts playing Niccolo Paganini’s legendary violin outside Italy. Kotorovych is one of the founders of the contemporary Ukrainian violin school. And the graduates of Kotorovych’s class make a pleiad of bright musicians, who are now continuing their teacher’s traditions in different countries of the world. In 1980 Kotorovych became the head of the Violin Department at the Kyiv Conservatoire (now the Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine), and in 1995 he founded a chamber ensemble, Kyiv Soloists, which included his students and NMAU graduates. With time this ensemble acquired world recognition. In 2001 the Kyiv Soloists won the grand-prix of the International Orchestra Competition in Vienna, as well as the first prizes in the Chamber Orchestras and All Orchestras nominations.

During his entire creative life, Kotorovych was actively involved in the popularization of Ukrainian culture and art. He headed the jury of the Lysenko International Violinist Competition in Kyiv, and in 2004 he became the artistic director at the Britten Kyiv Festival (Great Britain – Ukraine). The maestro died of heart attack on July 4, 2008, at the age of 68.

On The Day preceding the tragedy the renowned musician received birthday greetings.

The dedication soiree will be held within the framework of the international project “Elite Soirees of Chamber Music by Yevhenia Basalaieva.” At the beginning of the concert the audience will see a film in which the concert programs of various years with Kotorovych’s participation are assembled. The program will be held with the assistance of Leonid Kuchma’s Ukraine Foundation. The concert will feature the musicians from the Kontrasty Kyiv-Klasik Ensemble, and it will be conducted by the outstanding Lithuanian conductor Saulius Sondeckis, whereas the solo will be performed by the maestro’s students, who are now violinists of standing reputation: Bohdana Pivnenko, Volodymyr Astrakhantsev (Germany), Sviatoslav Semchuk, as well as grant holders of Leonid Kuchma’s Foundation, students of the NMAU Oleksandra Pushkarenko, Diana Tyshchenko, and the students of the Lysenko Music School, Oleh Dudnichenko and maestro’s son Anton Kotorovych (winner of international competitions).

Anton, jointly with the NMAU students Maryna Demiedkova, Anastasia Yehorova, and Oksana Pinchuk, will be playing a concerto for four violins and string orchestra by Antonio Vivaldi. By the way, the repertoire of Kotorovych Jr. includes Myroslav Skoryk’s Melodia, which was performed for the first time by Kotorovych Sr.

“I met Bohodar Kotorovych in 1985,” maestro’s widow, famous pianist Yevhenia Basalaieva told The Day. “At the time I was a fourth-year student at the conservatoire. Kotorovych heard me playing at one of the concerts and asked to play in duet with him. I made a debut in the Night Serenades series. This was followed by our joint artistic life and creative work, and later we got married. So, music was the bond between my husband and me.

“Since 1991 we worked on achieving the status of a state ensemble for Kyiv Soloists, which was created by Kotorovych. Later, in 1993–94 we both worked as professors of music at the Sydney Conseravtoire: Kotorovych was teaching the violin, and I the piano. We have given numerous joint concerts in Australia. They invited us to stay, but we loved our motherland above all and returned home. Our creative tandem became the organizational center for the ensemble Kyiv Soloists, which obtained the status of a state ensemble in 1995. Kotorovych was its director, and I was his assistant.

“My artistic exploration continued, and in 2000 I created my own chamber ensemble Kontrasty Kyiv-Klasik, I am its director at the moment, and it will take part in the concert in commemoration of Bohodar Kotorovych.”