Zuk piano duo engages in diverse music activities (01/16/05)

Zuk piano duo engages in diverse music activities

MONTREAL - Luba Zuk, professor on the faculty of music at McGill University in Montreal and Ireneus Zuk, professor and former director of the School of Music at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario - who have appeared as the Zuk Piano Duo in concerts to critical acclaim in North America, Europe and the Far East, are well-known for their commitment to the introduction of music by Ukrainian and Canadian composers to international audiences.

As part of their activities this past year they performed as a piano duo in Europe and North America, served as adjudicators in international piano competitions in Portugal and Italy, and engaged in individual activities in the field of music education such as lecture-recital presentations at music conferences and external examining in Ukraine.

A highlight of the duo's engagements in Europe in 2004 was a concert performance at the International Piano Festival of Great Pianists held on June 22 at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. The program included the premieres of works by, respectively, Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian composers - "Ancient Dances of Verkhovyna" by Yevhen Stankovych (first performance in Europe) and Piano Sonata No.1 by George Fiala (first performance in Portugal); as well as the work of French Canadian composer Clermont Pépin, titled "Ronde Villageoise."

In the United States, the piano duo appeared in concert at "Music at the Grazhda" as part of the Music and Art Center of Greene County summer concert series on July 24, in a program of works by Bruch, Fiala, Pépin, Stankovych, Pårt and Liszt.

Ireneus Zuk appeared in a solo concert at the "Piano Week" Festival at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University in a program that included works by Ukrainian composer Viktor Kosenko (1896-1938), and also presented a master class at the festival on March 5. In the fall of last year, Dr. Zuk presented a lecture-recital titled "Viktor Kosenko: Composer-Pianist" at the 26th European Conference of European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) in Rome (October 15-18).

Last spring, Luba Zuk, at the invitation of the Ministry of Arts and Culture of Ukraine, served as head of the State Examining Commission (Derzhavna Examinatsyina Komisya, or DEK) at the Mykola Lysenko State Music Academy in Lviv (May 6 - 16, 2004). Prof. Zuk previously served in that capacity at the Sergei Prokofiev Conservatory in Donetsk (2000, 2001), and at the Antonina Nezhdanova State Conservatory (2002) and the Antonina Nezhdanova State Music Academy (2003) in Odesa.

Frequent adjudicators in Canada and at international music competitions, Luba Zuk and Ireneus Zuk were invited last year as members of the jury at the Helena Sá e Costa International Piano Competition in Aveiro, Portugal (June 19-21) and at the 2004 IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition in Ragusa Ibla, Italy (June 28-July 11). Dr. Ireneus Zuk also was chair of the jury at the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition held in New York Sate (September 10-12).

At the XXI Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) held in Winnipeg October 1-3, 2004, Ireneus Zuk was awarded the Shevchenko Medal "in recognition of performances of Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian music in Canada and abroad." For her contribution in the field of music to the development of Ukrainian culture in Canada and abroad, Luba Zuk was awarded the UCC Shevchenko Medal in 2001. Earlier, in 1999, in recognition of their significant artistic achievement, the Zuk Duo was awarded a medal and the title "Merited Artist of Ukraine."

| Home Page |