OBITUARY: Daria H. Karanowycz, pianist and educator (01/02/00)

OBITUARY

Daria H. Karanowycz, pianist and educator

by Roman Sawycky

NEWARK, N.J. - Daria Hordynska Karanowycz pianist, educator and critic, died on December 9, 1999, at the age of 91.

Ms. Karanowycz (née Hordynska) was born into a prominent Ukrainian family on October 18, 1908, in Kolomyia. She studied with Vasyl Barvinsky at the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music in Lviv, and subsequently at the Vienna Music Academy with Paul Weingarten, Emil von Sauer (the distinguished student of Franz Liszt) and E. Steuermann.

In the 1930s she took part in international piano competitions held in Vienna and Warsaw, winning official recognition for her alma mater, the Lysenko Music Institute. Ms. Karanowycz concertized regularly with the Vienna Philharmonic Quartet, and also gave performances in Salzburg, Berlin and Prague, as well as appeared in concerts for Austrian radio.

In 1952, while en route to the United States aboard the Queen Mary, she was invited to play for the passengers, among whom were Sir Winston Churchill and U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

Ms. Karanowycz's talent and perseverance, as well as her musical training, set her on a busy career in America. Soon after her arrival in Newark, N.J., Ms. Karanowycz gave a successful recital at New York's Town Hall.

To mark the passing in 1963 of her cherished teacher, composer and pianist Vasyl Barvinsky, the pianist embarked on a special tour of eight principal cities of North America, performing concerts dedicated to his music.

The pianist often performed under the auspices of the Ukrainian Music Institute of America, where she taught and served as president since 1983. Ms. Karanowycz was a member of several Ukrainian and American professional music organizations.

Ms. Karanowycz was finally able to visit her homeland in 1990 after an absence of 50 years. She was welcomed in the city of Lviv, where she was interviewed and played for a radio performance. She was also the subject of numerous articles, among them one by piano specialist Prof. Natalia Kashkadamova of the Lviv Conservatory.

Ms. Karanowycz's legacy includes piano recordings, as well as articles and reviews.

Ms. Karanowycz came from a prominent Ukrainian American family; her late brothers - Bohdan Hordynsky, a physician, Walter, a biochemist, and Sviatoslav (George), a poet, painter and art historian - excelled in their respective fields.

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