INTRODUCTIONS - the debut performance of the Ukrainian Music Initiative

INTRODUCTIONS - the debut performance of the Ukrainian Music Initiative.

Contralto Vira Slywotzky, cellist Valeriya Sholokhova, pianist Pavlo Gintov and pianist Margarita Rovenskaya perform music by Theodore Akimenko, Ludwig van Beethoven, Andrii Didorenko, Mykola Lysenko, Valentyn Silvestrov, Ihor Sonevytsky, Yakiv Stepovy, Kyrylo Stetsenko and Olga Zaitseva-Herz.

Ukrainian Music Initiative seeks to elevate Ukrainian classical music to its rightful place in the Western canon. The performers are joined in their mission by musicologist Leah Batstone and business entrepreneur Alex Gamota.

Ukrainian Music Initiative is presented by Vira & Friends, a nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the Ukrainian American Educational Center of Boston, a 501(c)(3).
Questions? Email [email protected].
About the performers...
Ukrainian American contralto Vira Slywotzky has performed principal roles with major American companies including Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Sarasota Opera and has sung concerts, recitals and cabarets in NYC venues from The Duplex to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and on tour all over the United States. Internationally Slywotzky has been heard in Canada, France, Hungary, Sweden and Wales. A champion of new music, she has workshopped and premiered more than 30 compositions including songs, full scale opera and narration with orchestra. Slywotzky collaborates with many Ukrainian organizations and since 2022 her performances have raised over $250,000 to support Ukrainians in their fight for an independent, democratic and peaceful existence. Participant in numerous competitions and winner of awards, most significantly Slywotzky was the sole representative of the USA at the 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. She has run the concert series Vira & Friends since 2018 and has served on the board of the Berkshire Opera Festival since a year before its 2016 inaugural season, for a time as President. Slywotzky received her MM in vocal performance from Mannes, The New School for Music and her BA in music from Yale. www.viraslywotzky.com
Ukrainian-American cellist Valeriya Sholokhova is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician based in New York City. She has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Saturday Night Live, and has toured across Europe and the US. In 2022, she co-founded Trio Fadolin, which has received Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward Grant and recorded an album of commissioned works. A laureate of international competitions, Valeriya holds principal positions with The New Orchestra of Washington and The Refugee Orchestra Project. A full-scholarship graduate of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Valeriya is also active in community outreach through Sing for Hope. https://www.valeriyasholokhova.com/
Following his debut at the Kyiv Philharmonic Hall at the age of 12, when he performed Mozart Concerto in D minor K 466 with Kyiv Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Roman Kofman, Ukrainian American pianist Pavlo Gintov has been touring throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the United States, appearing at such stages as Carnegie Hall in New York, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Teatro Verdi Nationale in Milan, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and Kioi Hall in Tokyo. He has been a soloist with Tokyo Royal Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Shizuoka Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic and Manhattan Chamber Orchestra under such conductors as Michiyoshi Inoue, Victor Yampolsky, Thomas Sanderling, Volodymyr Sirenko and Tomomi Nishimoto.

Mr. Gintov has appeared on WFMT radio station of Chicago, WCLV of Cleveland, WPR of Wisconsin as well as numerous radio and TV stations in Europe, Japan, and Ukraine.

A native of Ukraine, Mr. Gintov won a First Prize in the Premiere Takamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, where in addition he was awarded four special prizes. An avid chamber music performer, he has worked with such distinguished musicians as violinists Nina Beilina and Alena Baeva, cellist Yehuda Hanani, tenor Neil Rosenshein, pianist Mykola Suk, woodwind quintet Windscape and many others. He regularly performs together with his sister, violinist Iryna Gintova.

Mr. Gintov graduated with honors from the Moscow State Conservatory, where he was a student of Lev Naumov and Daniil Kopylov. He holds a Doctor of Musical Art degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he studied with Nina Svetlanova. http://www.gintov.com/

Ukrainian American pianist Margarita Rovenskaya has performed extensively in the US and abroad, with performances in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, DiMenna Center, and the Ukrainian Museum, among others. She is a prizewinner of competitions including the Constantine the Great International Competition, Mary Smart International Concerto Competition, and Chopin Society Malaysia Competition. Dr. Rovenskaya champions the music of Czech composers, as well as Ukrainian composers. She performs annually in the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, which celebrates Ukrainian culture, music, and avant-garde Ukrainian composers. Dr. Rovenskaya is the President of the Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
Born in Ukraine, Margarita Rovenskaya began studying the piano at the age of six in Chicago. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Oberlin Conservatory, her Masters in Piano Studies at NYU, and earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Rutgers University. Her teachers include Efrem Briskin, Peter Takacs, Eteri Andjaparidze, and Vladimir Valjarevic. https://www.margaritarovenskaya.com/

Host or Publisher Vira & Friends