Young Concert Artists Series to present Ukrainian pianist (02/14/99)

Young Concert Artists Series to present Ukrainian pianist

NEW YORK - Ukrainian pianist Alexander Mikhailuk will make his debut at the Young Concert Artists Series at the 92nd Street Y on Tuesday, March 2.

Mr. Mikhailuk won the 1997 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig, hosted by the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule fur Musik. In New York he won first prize at the 1998 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, where he was also awarded the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize. He will make his debut in the Young Concert Artists Series as the first recipient of the Peter Jay Sharp Prize of Young Concert Artists.

Born in Boryspil, Ukraine, in 1970, Mr. Mikhailuk began studying piano at age 6, and gave his first public performance at age 8 as a soloist with the Ukrainian State Orchestra.

He attended the Kyiv Central Music School, studying with Mikhail Karafinka, and continued his studies with Evgenyi Timakin at the Central Moscow Music School.

In 1987 Mr. Mikhailuk entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Evgenyi Malinin and earned both undergraduate and post-graduate degrees.

Mr. Mikhailuk moved to Germany in 1996, where he currently studies with Lazar Berman and James Tocco. He has performed in masterclasses given by Paul Badura-Skoda in Brussels and Klaus Hellwig in Berlin.

Mr. Mikhailuk won the highest prize at the 1997 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar, Germany; first prize at the 1997 Shostakovich International Piano Competition in Hannover, Germany; and first prize at the 1998 International Piano Competition in Taormina, Italy.

He has given acclaimed concerts in many cities, including Kyiv, Moscow, Miensk, Florence, Turin (Italy), Nivelles (Belgium), Stockholm, Leeds (England) and Warsaw. In 1989 he toured as soloist with Germany's Youth Philharmonic under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, and since then has performed in many of Germany's major cities and concert halls, including the Beethovensaal in Stuttgart and the Ludwigsburg Festival, and has been heard on MDR Radio in Leipzig and Deutschland Radio in Berlin. Upcoming performances include the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with the MDR Orchestra at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

Mr. Mikhailuk will appear at the 92nd Street Y in a program that includes: Schubert, Impromptu in B-flat Major, Op. 142, No. 3; Chopin, Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58; Bach/Busoni, Chaconne in D Minor; Shostakovich, Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Op. 87; and Stravinsky, "Petrouchka."

Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert, at $20 and $15, are available by calling YCA-Charge: (212) 307-6655 (American Express, Visa and MasterCard accepted). For senior citizens and students, half-price tickets are available the day of the performance at the 92nd Street Y Box Office, 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

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