Mykola Suk
Encyclopedia
Mykola Suk is a Ukrainian American pianist, Merited Artist of Ukraine
.
, Ukraine
(formerly: USSR), into a musical family, Mykola studied at Kiev Specialized Music School and made his first public appearance at the age of eight. He later studied at Moscow Conservatory
.
. His international career has spanned four continents, performing in the most prestigious venues from the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory
to Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall
and Carnegie Hall
in New York.
Mr. Suk has given recitals in countries of the former Soviet Union, France, Germany, England, Finland, Egypt, Mexico, United States, Canada, Korea, China, Mongolia and Australia. He has appeared as soloist with numerous leading orchestras, from the Russian National Symphony under Mikhail Pletnev
to the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under Roman Kofman. He has collaborated artistically with the world’s outstanding conductors, among them Charles Bruck
, János Ferencsik
, Arvid Jansons
, Stefan Turchak, James DePreist
and Carl St. Clair. His passion for chamber music has brought him to many distinguished chamber music festivals and collaborations throughout the world, among them, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland
), Australian Festival of Chamber Music
, Kiev International Music Festival (Ukraine
) and International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York
.
Mr. Suk is an avid believer in 20th and 21st century piano literature. He was honored to premiere numerous works, especially by Ukrainian composers such as Valentin Silvestrov
, Ivan Karabyts
and Myroslav Skoryk
. Most of the compositions were composed for, dedicated to, or commissioned by Suk.
Degree in Piano Performance at the Moscow Conservatory, studying with Lev Vlasenko
. He also holds a combined Bachelor/Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance, Pedagogy and Chamber Music from the Moscow State Conservatory. Before coming to the United States he served as professor of Piano at the Kiev State Conservatory
and Moscow State Conservatory.
Mr. Suk has given master classes at many festivals and music schools around the world. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at various music schools such as the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music
(NY), Columbia University
(NY), and the University of Southern Alabama. In 2001, Mr. Suk settled in Las Vegas
, Nevada
, taking responsibility for keyboard studies at the Music Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
), Russian Disc, Hungaraton, Meldac/Triton (Japan), and Troppe Note/Cambria, Music & Arts
(USA) labels.
“An astonishing blend of muscular power, poetry and utter control he will prove to be one of the more formidable talents to have appeared in this country in years”. “Suk is a powerhouse of a pianist who sets his own individual stamp on the Liszt Sonata. Although the lyrical elements are emphasized, there is little slighting of the muscular display sections...the more poetic passages are integrated into the structure.” (American Record Guide
).
“...enormous digital control... such an impressive technique was so completely subsumed in the task of musical characterization. Suk never used the piano to show off; he made it the servant of Liszt’s expressive ideas” (Toronto Star
).
“..surely the most towering and volcanic talent to have come out of Russia since Anton Rubinstein.” (The European Piano Teacher’s Journal).
“The recital opens with the Liszt Sonata that represents big piano-playing in its most positive, emotionally generous manifestation...Every so often an unusual voicing, phrase grouping or accent spices up the narrative flow, yet never for the sake of effect or novelty alone.” (Gramophone).
“These were thrilling interpretations, and one had the impression that he was only warming up.” (General-Anzeiger
, Germany).
“Whether the tempestuously allegro or the leisurely adagio, the exuberant audience was entranced with the pianist’s superb artistry, exquisite style and perfect artistic performance.” (XiaMen Daily News, China).
“In the Ukraine, Mr. Suk was for many years a symbol of piano artistry...distinguished musicians still wonder at his ability to carefully and attentively approach many different styles and genres of music.” (Kommersant
, Ukraine).
“Suk is an excellent Liszt player...He knows how to grab hold of this music and make it personal and flashy and dramatically oratorical, and, on a more technical level, cause the gigantic chords to ring impressively – you heard every note, not mush.” (The Orange County Register
).
"If the angels ultimately won the evening, that was due in large part to pianist Mykola Suk, whose reading of the great B Minor Piano Sonata sidestepped granitic force and rhetorical showboating in favor of an introspection that hinted at the spiritual. Suk's solo playing in the irredeemably kitschy concerto "Totentanz" was also remarkably nuanced, its many iterations of the "Dies Irae" theme directed inward, rather than toward the balcony." (The Washington Post
).
Merited Artist of Ukraine
Merited [Performing] Artist of Ukraine is a state honorary title of decoration awarded by the Ukrainian SSR and later Ukraine for outstanding achievement in the performing arts...
.
Biography
Born in KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(formerly: USSR), into a musical family, Mykola studied at Kiev Specialized Music School and made his first public appearance at the age of eight. He later studied at Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
.
Pianist
Mykola Suk gained international recognition as the winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 1971 International Liszt-Bartok Competition in Budapest, Hungary. Still very much attached to Liszt' music, he was called "the greatest present-day Liszt pianist" by former music critic for the New York Times, Joseph HorowitzJoseph Horowitz
Joseph Horowitz is an American cultural historian whose seven books mainly deal with the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a producer of concerts, he has played a pioneering role in promoting thematic programming and new concert formats...
. His international career has spanned four continents, performing in the most prestigious venues from the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
to Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
and Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York.
Mr. Suk has given recitals in countries of the former Soviet Union, France, Germany, England, Finland, Egypt, Mexico, United States, Canada, Korea, China, Mongolia and Australia. He has appeared as soloist with numerous leading orchestras, from the Russian National Symphony under Mikhail Pletnev
Mikhail Pletnev
Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev is a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer.-Life and career:Pletnev was born into a very musical family in Arkhangelsk, then part of the Soviet Union; his father played and taught the bayan, and his mother the piano...
to the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under Roman Kofman. He has collaborated artistically with the world’s outstanding conductors, among them Charles Bruck
Charles Bruck
Charles Bruck was a Hungarian-French conductor.Bruck was born in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1920 Timişoara, since 1920 in Romania....
, János Ferencsik
János Ferencsik
János Ferencsik was a Hungarian conductor.Ferencsik was born in Budapest; he actively played music even as a very young boy. He took violin lessons and taught himself to play the organ. He studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Budapest, where his major subjects were organ performance...
, Arvid Jansons
Arvid Jansons
Arvīds Jansons was a Latvian conductor and father of conductor Mariss Jansons.Jansons studied violin from 1929 until 1935 at the Conservatory of Liepāja, then composition and conducting at the Conservatory of Riga while working as violinist at Riga Opera...
, Stefan Turchak, James DePreist
James DePreist
James Anderson DePreist is an American conductor. One of the few African American conductors on the world stage, he is currently the director of conducting and orchestral studies at the Juilliard School and laureate music director of the Oregon Symphony.-Biography:DePreist was born in Philadelphia...
and Carl St. Clair. His passion for chamber music has brought him to many distinguished chamber music festivals and collaborations throughout the world, among them, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
), Australian Festival of Chamber Music
Australian Festival of Chamber Music
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music is a ten-day international festival focused on chamber music but also featuring tours of regional and remote Australia, fine food, master classes for musicians and lecture series by international scientists themed on the Great Barrier Reef.20 to 30 chamber...
, Kiev International Music Festival (Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) and International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Mr. Suk is an avid believer in 20th and 21st century piano literature. He was honored to premiere numerous works, especially by Ukrainian composers such as Valentin Silvestrov
Valentin Silvestrov
Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.-Education:Sylvestrov began private music lessons at age 15...
, Ivan Karabyts
Ivan Karabyts
Ivan Fedorovich Karabyts was a Ukrainian composer and conductor, People's Artist of Ukraine.He graduated from the Kiev Conservatory in 1971 as a student of Boris Lyatoshynsky and Myroslav Skoryk. He conducted the Dance Ensemble of the Kiev Military District and the Kiev Camerata...
and Myroslav Skoryk
Myroslav Skoryk
Myroslav Skoryk is a famous Ukrainian composer of diverse and impressive compositions. His music is contemporary in style and contains stylistic traits from two disparate folk traditions: Ukrainian and American.- Early life :...
. Most of the compositions were composed for, dedicated to, or commissioned by Suk.
Pedagogue
Mykola Suk completed his Doctor of Musical ArtsDoctor of Musical Arts
The Doctor of Musical Arts degree is a doctoral academic degree in music. The D.M.A. combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization with graduate-level academic study in subjects such as music history, music theory, or music pedagogy. The D.M.A...
Degree in Piano Performance at the Moscow Conservatory, studying with Lev Vlasenko
Lev Vlasenko
World-renowned international concert pianist and teacher, Lev Vlassenko born in Tbilisi, 1928; died in Brisbane, 1996) He won the First Prize in the 1956 Franz Liszt Competition and was second to Van Cliburn at the I-st Tchaikovsky Competition two years later.In 1991 he was decorated a People's...
. He also holds a combined Bachelor/Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance, Pedagogy and Chamber Music from the Moscow State Conservatory. Before coming to the United States he served as professor of Piano at the Kiev State Conservatory
Kiev Conservatory
The Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music is a Ukrainian state institution of higher music education. Its courses include postgraduate education.-History:...
and Moscow State Conservatory.
Mr. Suk has given master classes at many festivals and music schools around the world. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at various music schools such as the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
(NY), Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(NY), and the University of Southern Alabama. In 2001, Mr. Suk settled in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, taking responsibility for keyboard studies at the Music Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Recordings
Mykola Suk has recorded for the Melodya (RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), Russian Disc, Hungaraton, Meldac/Triton (Japan), and Troppe Note/Cambria, Music & Arts
Music & Arts
Music & Arts is an American record label based in Kensington, California.Music & Arts is owned and operated by Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to informal education in the arts, established in California in 1984...
(USA) labels.
Cultural references
The following are some of the comments made about Mykola Suk's recent performances (both live and recorded):“An astonishing blend of muscular power, poetry and utter control he will prove to be one of the more formidable talents to have appeared in this country in years”. “Suk is a powerhouse of a pianist who sets his own individual stamp on the Liszt Sonata. Although the lyrical elements are emphasized, there is little slighting of the muscular display sections...the more poetic passages are integrated into the structure.” (American Record Guide
American Record Guide
The American Record Guide is a classical music magazine. It has reviewed classical music recordings since 1935.Since 1992, with the incorporation of the Musical America editorial functions into ARG, it started covering concerts, musicians, ensembles and orchestras in the US.The magazine prides...
).
“...enormous digital control... such an impressive technique was so completely subsumed in the task of musical characterization. Suk never used the piano to show off; he made it the servant of Liszt’s expressive ideas” (Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
).
“..surely the most towering and volcanic talent to have come out of Russia since Anton Rubinstein.” (The European Piano Teacher’s Journal).
“The recital opens with the Liszt Sonata that represents big piano-playing in its most positive, emotionally generous manifestation...Every so often an unusual voicing, phrase grouping or accent spices up the narrative flow, yet never for the sake of effect or novelty alone.” (Gramophone).
“These were thrilling interpretations, and one had the impression that he was only warming up.” (General-Anzeiger
General-Anzeiger
The General-Anzeiger is a regional daily newspaper based in the city of Bonn, the former West German capital in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In addition to the city and its urban surrounds, the distribution of the newspaper and its local editions extends to the neighbouring...
, Germany).
“Whether the tempestuously allegro or the leisurely adagio, the exuberant audience was entranced with the pianist’s superb artistry, exquisite style and perfect artistic performance.” (XiaMen Daily News, China).
“In the Ukraine, Mr. Suk was for many years a symbol of piano artistry...distinguished musicians still wonder at his ability to carefully and attentively approach many different styles and genres of music.” (Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
, Ukraine).
“Suk is an excellent Liszt player...He knows how to grab hold of this music and make it personal and flashy and dramatically oratorical, and, on a more technical level, cause the gigantic chords to ring impressively – you heard every note, not mush.” (The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...
).
"If the angels ultimately won the evening, that was due in large part to pianist Mykola Suk, whose reading of the great B Minor Piano Sonata sidestepped granitic force and rhetorical showboating in favor of an introspection that hinted at the spiritual. Suk's solo playing in the irredeemably kitschy concerto "Totentanz" was also remarkably nuanced, its many iterations of the "Dies Irae" theme directed inward, rather than toward the balcony." (The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
).
Partial discography
- Mykola Suk — Pianist, Troppe Note/Cambria, 1996
- Ludwig van Beethoven: The Complete Violin Sonatas, Triton (DML Classics), 1999
- Collaboration with Oleh KrysaOleh Krysa-Early life:Oleh Krysa was born in Uchanie, now Gmina Uchanie in the Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, into a family of Ukrainian aristocrats. In 1945, as a result of the so-called Operation Vistula, Oleh's family found itself in Lviv, where he grew up and spent his school years.Although none of the...
- Collaboration with Oleh Krysa
- Mykola Suk Plays Liszt Piano Favorites, Music & ArtsMusic & ArtsMusic & Arts is an American record label based in Kensington, California.Music & Arts is owned and operated by Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to informal education in the arts, established in California in 1984...
, 2009