The National Philharmonic Society has held an award ceremony and a concert of the winners of the 11th International Competition of Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in the Horowitz Debut group. The young pianists (15-20 in number) could choose to compete in the following four nominations:
1st group “A” ELEMENTARY – a 10-minute program at the participant’s choice;
2nd group “B” ELEMENTARY – a 15-minute program at the participant’s choice with mandatory performance of an etude;
3rd group “C” ADVANCED – a 20-minute program at the participant’s choice with mandatory performance of a sonata (parts 1 or 2-3) or variations; a virtuosic piece;
4th group “D” ADVANCED – performing a part of a concerto for piano and orchestra accompanied by another piano. This group’s winner Khrystyna Mykhailychenko, a Crimea migrant, performed at the final concert with the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vitalii Protasov. Incidentally, this young pianist also came first in the “B” nomination. Khrystyna is now a 5th-grade pupil at the Kyiv Mykola Lysenko Specialized Music School.
“I was born in Simferopol and began to play when I hadn’t yet turned five,” Khrystyna MYKHAILYCHENKO says. “My first instrument was the piano my parents had bought from our neighbors. My grandparents are professional musicians, and mother graduated from a music school. So, music has always been with me. I am 10 now. I like playing very much, sometimes even forgetting about the time. Two years ago, when ‘little green men’ appeared in Crimea, our family moved to Kyiv. I am now the pupil of a wonderful teacher, Natalia Tolpyho-Rusina. At this competition, I played Beethoven’s Concerto No.2 in the “D” nomination, Etude No.2 by Scriabin, Allegro Appassionato by Saint-Saens, and The Bells of Geneva by Lizst in the “B” nomination. I dream of becoming a professional pianist when I grow up.”
The children played so well at the final concert that when you closed your eyes, it seemed to you that mature musicians were on the stage. The shouts of “bravo” accompanied Mykhailo Yermak who gave a virtuoso performance of Copland’s The Cat and the Mouse. A “wonder with bows,” Kateryna Yelysieieva, played Lyadov’s Musical Snuffbox. Kirill Bartashevich, Belarus, showed the highest class in Prelude No.2 by Rachmaninoff. Yehor Miezentsev (Kuhlau’s Rondo from Mozart) and Khrystyna Mykhailychenko (this talented girl first played an etude by Scriabin and then Beethoven’s 2nd Concerto with orchestra) also received ovations. The audience derived special pleasure from Prokofiev’s Concerto No.1 superbly played by National Philharmonic soloist Antonii Baryshevsky, who had embarked on the road to professional stage at the Horowitz competition and is now a bright star of the Ukrainian piano school. Incidentally, all the young musicians listened, spellbound, to this number, and a lot of parents and teachers recorded this concert on their tablets and cell phones.
“I gained a lasting impression of this competition,” says Oleksandr ZLOTNYK, composer, Rector of the Kyiv Reinhold Gliere Institute of Music, chair of the Intermediate Group jury. “The main thing is that the geography of participants has widened. We are particularly pleased that pianists represent not only the specialized music schools of Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv, which traditionally show the high skills of children as well as of their teachers who train them for this competition. This year’s contest also saw young talents from Boiarka, Yahotyn, Komunarsk, Sievierodonetsk, and other small towns. This means that teachers can work very well in ordinary music schools. And children are always very talented, and it is important to spot this ‘diamond’ and help it shine. The contestants who performed at the final concert were really the best of the best. There were no disputes in our jury – everything was organized very well. There was no major gap between the points for the first, second, and third places. Even though there is a war going on in eastern Ukraine, children go in for music, and whenever you hear them play wonderfully, you believe that everything will be OK in our country!”
“It is a pleasure to see that the competition is not just living but is gaining strength,” says the jury chairman Valerii KOZLOV, a piano professor at the National Music Academy of Ukraine. “Kyiv has seen new stars this year. This competition has always been distinguished by a high level of music performance, and its standards still remain high. The winners gladdened us with their mastery, and many of the young musicians have a radiant future. Even those who will not become professional pianists or teachers have in any case come to love music for the rest of their lifetime. The children showed a versatile program, and we can see that their teachers did a very good job. Many sincere thanks to these devotees! The competition’s organization was superb. The organizing committee worked very productively. I was surprised to hear participants perform such difficult works as, for example, Beethoven’s Sonata or his Concerto, parts 1 and 2, in the Debut division to boot! This very complicated repertoire is intended for adult musician, not children. There were a lot of bright moments during the competition, and even those who failed to win did not lose in the final analysis, for they gained an opportunity to show their talent and character.”
The participants in the Junior and Intermediate groups are being auditioned now, with the finals to be held on May 3 and 4.
Winners in the Horowitz Debut group
♦ Nomination “A”
Sixth, fifth, and fourth places were not cited.
Third place – Albina Shumakova, Yelyzaveta Riaboshapka, and Yehor Miezentsev.
Second place – Mykhailo Yermak.
First place – Kateryna Yelysieieva.
♦ Nomination “B”
Fourth place – Sviatoslav Sviechnykov and Sofia Lukashiva.
Third place – Maria-Luisa Plieshakova, Mark Ivanytsky, and Yelyzaveta Riaboshapka.
Second place – Kirill Bartashevich (Belarus), Yehor Miezentsev, and Kateryna Yelysieieva.
First place – Khrystyna Mykhailychenko.
♦ Nomination “C”
Sixth place – Wang Ji Yu (China) and Oleksandr Korkuta.
Fifth place – Sofia Dubii and Yehor Bakhmut.
Fourth place – Anhelina Datseniuk and Sofia Mushtai.
Third place – Maria-Luisa Plieshakova.
Second place – Anna Nebaba.
First place – Kirill Bartashevich (Belarus).
♦ Nomination “D”
Sixth and fifth places were not cited.
Fourth place – Anastasia Soloviova.
Third place – Sofia Dubii.
Second place – Dmytro Kushch, Yehor Miezentsev, and Mykhailo Yermak.
First place – Khrystyna Mykhailychenko.
