Global Parade of Pianists Held at National Philharmonic

This year’s Volodymyr Krainev Invites international festival was dedicated to Vladimir Horowitz’s birth centennial. Participating in concerts were young talents from Ukraine, Russia, and Japan, and adult stars such as French pianist Michel Dalberto, Bulgarian piano duet Aglika Genova, and Luben Dimitrov, and Russian cellist Aleksandr Rudin, composer Aleksandr Chaykovsky, and singer Natalia Yerasova. The audiences were also pleased to hear virtuosos from China, Korea, and Japan. Small wonder, for the Far East is now experiencing a true boom of classical music performance, there being 30,000 piano teachers in Tokyo alone. This time the Japanese school was represented by fourteen year-old Nogi Nariya and 23-yea-old Ayako Uehara who won the First Prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Contest last year. As to Ukrainian pianists, Ihor Chetuyev, Oleksiy Hryniuk, Dmytro Onyshchenko, and Denis Proshchayev again displayed high proficiency, much to the delight of their admirers.

The festival has already formed its own circle of fans, including music aficionados, young pianists, their instructors and parents.

This year’s youngest participant was Kerch-based Valeriya Mirosh who turned twelve on October 2. Kyivans remember her winning the Grand Prix at last year’s Krainev Contest. This time, Valeriya played in the concluding concert, giving an excellent performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 23. She plays her pieces so subtly and finely that when you look at the young pianist, you forget that she is just a child. “I feel stage fright before the performance, but as soon as I see the audience I feel happy. I let myself be carried away by the piece I am playing,” she confessed.

The children came by turns to the instrument. The audience gave everybody a very warm reception. Dinara Nadzhafova is only two years Valeriya Mirosh’s senior. Kyivans remember her as First Prize winner at the 1989 Krainev Contest. Even then, Dinara showed a striking sense of purpose, energy and expressive musicality. The past years have added virtuosity to the way she plays: she has won prizes at prestigious piano contests and toured still more countries.

“Dinara, you’ve been practicing all your life... Do you envy other children who have fun while you have to play the piano so much?”

“I can’t imagine life without the piano. I like studying new pieces. I love rehearsing and searching for new subtle ways of playing. A performance is a great event for me. To hear the audiences applaud, you must work very hard.”