The Third International Festival for Children and Youth Art Premium is being held in Kyiv May 17 through 30. It consists of two parts: the instrumental contest (which finished on May 23), and the competition for vocalists and choreographers (who will compete on May 26-30 on the stages of the Ukrainian Home, the House of Scientists and the Lyceum of International Relations). The participants of the forum are aged from 7 to 25. There are three age categories in the contest: junior, middle and senior. The event brought together over a thousand people this time: instrument players alone numbered over 300!
The event is supported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, the Main Administration of Culture and Arts of the Kyiv Municipal Council, the Pechersk District State Administration and the charity foundation VIVAT ART.
“This year I was impressed by the regions, which sent good musicians and interesting instrumental ensembles. Thus, Kyiv has to work hard not to lose its status as Ukraine’s cultural capital. Last year the music schools from Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv performed well, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia were a bit weaker. This year Drohobych amazed us,” the director of Art-Premium-2011 and director of Vivat Art Volodymyr Soboliev shared his impressions. “The instrumentalists competed in the Home of the Scientists and the Lyceum of the International Relations. Choreography requires a good stage so the contest will be held at the Ukrainian House. Some interesting compositions are presented at the competition, with a high-quality musical accompaniment. It should be noted that the choreographers developed their own styles and they try not to just follow the older masters but to create something new of their own.”
Lera Chornous received the first prize in the “piano” nomination, “B” category (middle). At the winners’ concert the girl played the composition The Bells by the modern composer Mikhail Kostin, and Prelude by Sergei Prokofiev.
“I study at the music school No. 38 and my teacher is Oksana Prysiazhniuk,” said the girl. “I’m eleven now and I’ve been playing piano since I was four. I’ve already taken part in dozens of international contests such as ‘Verykivsky,’ ‘Pukhalsky,’ ‘Horowitz,’ ‘Golden Star International.’ I have 37 diplomas and three trophies…”
The head of the instrumental music jury, the professor of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy Liudmyla Prudnikova is happy that the number of participants has significantly grown, as has their level. “We have to continue selecting participants through cassette auditions,” she asserts. “This makes it very difficult to listen to all the participants. This year we introduced a new nomination, ‘Piano and Orchestra.’ Young musicians are happy to play with an orchestra and the contest gives them such an opportunity. This year we didn’t award a second prize, but we assigned two first prizes and a Grand Prize, as the third place and the first ones differed a lot.”
The Art Premium-2011 Grand Prize in the nomination “Piano and Orchestra” went to the Chinese pianist Lu Chao (Prudnikova’s student). This year he has participated in five international contests and received Grand-Prizes at four of them!
Lu Chao told to The Day that three years ago he already got the Grand Prize at this contest but then he performed as a solo pianist: “I started learning to play piano in China when I was 4. In 2004 I entered the R. Glier Institute of Music, and in 2006 I entered the Tchaikovsky National Ukrainian Art Academy where I’m on my fifth year now and Liudmyla Prudnikova is my teacher. Although I’m finishing the academy I think that I have to learn much more, so I’m going to enter the graduate school.”
All the participants who performed in the nomination “Piano and Orchestra” played with the State Ukrainian Academic Variety and Symphony Orchestra. Its director Mykola Lysenko is content with the performance of all of the musicians: “I have three children, so when I see a kid playing with an orchestra, I put my own children at their place at once… I wanted to protect and help each participant. The Chinese pianist Lu Chao played Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto perfectly. He’s a very gifted boy. He plays at a European level. I had an impression that a Slavic musician was at the piano. Lu Chao amazed us not only with his technique but with the depth and his new findings. Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto is often played and that is why it’s difficult to find something new, but it acquired new colors when played by him. We remember the seven-year-old Maria-Luisa Plieshakova, who also played with the orchestra and received the first prize in the ‘A’ category. She’s a talented girl. When she first came to the rehearsals the musicians felt as if they got a gulp of refreshing spring water on a hot day.”
“Today I received two prizes,” boasted Luisa-Maria Plieshakova. “One for my solo performance and another one for playing with the orchestra. But you haven’t heard me singing! I haven’t decided on my future yet. Maybe, I’ll become a singer when I grow up as I’ve got a good voice for a pianist. I have plenty of time to choose my profession.”
“This year the instrumental contests comprised the following nominations: piano (solo), ensembles, strings (violin, cello and harp), chamber ensembles, wind and percussion instruments, and ensembles and folk instruments. Representatives from Ukraine, Belarus and China competed at Art Premium-2011,” the head of the festival organizing committee and president of Vivat Art Svitlana Sukhomlynova told The Day. “I’d like to invite Kyiv residents and the guests of the city to attend the second gala concert of the winners of the vocal and choreographic contests, which will take place in Mariinsky Square next Sunday. You’ll see with your own eyes that these young people are very talented. They are masters who will quickly win on even the most prestigious stages.”
