Selected Pianistic Highlights
Yaroslav Senyshyn was one of two pianists chosen to represent Canada at the International Tschaikovsky Competition, 1974 in Moscow. Special performance at the John F. Kennedy Center Washington, D. C., “Critic’s Pick” column in the Washington Post. “Senyshyn has enormous power”, “sophisticated finger work”, (his Chopin was) “sensitively conceived and delicately played” (The Washington Post).
Georgetown University radio broadcast: “Empire Far-Flung, Part V: Canada II”. Performance Citation and Interview.
Appeared in a Georgetown University radio broadcast in Washington, D. C., on the “most important” Canadian pianists including Glenn Gould, Louis Lortie, Anton Kuerti and Angela Hewitt in “Empire Far-Flung, Part V: Canada II”; Air Date: May 26, 1988; Producer: Eileen D. Curtis; WGMS 570AM~103.5FM 11300 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryfield 20852.
Sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Washington D. C., and Rene Picard, Conseiller Culturel. Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City; St. Lawrence Centre, Toronto; Massey Hall, Toronto.
Simon Fraser University Theatre: two scholarship benefit performances.
Invited to give a special recital and recording to celebrate the formal joining of OISE (The Ontario Institute for the Study of Education) with the University of Toronto.
Boris Roubakine Hall at the University of Calgary, Bolshoi Hall at the Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Russia and more recently (selected recitals) a performance and paper for the Seventeenth International Research Seminar in Music Education held at Johannesburg, South Africa, July 1998.
Nine CDs.
Recital at Keele University Chapel, Keele University, United Kingdom, November, 2000. Invitation for a recital and master class, August 2, 2002 at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Recital for Simon Fraser University, a SFU Scholarship Fund recital September 2002. Gave a memorial lecture-recital on performance anxiety at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in November 2002.
Most recently, gave a Liszt performance for the Stephen Lewis/Faculty of Education Reception at the Hyatt Hotel in Vancouver on March 3, 2006.
Selected Review Notices
The following review is from The Enterprise Bulletin:
Critic Says Tour Will Be Successful
Saturday evenings’ (March 28) recital by Yaroslav Senyshyn at Toronto’s Jane Mallett Theatre marked a debut of sorts. Not that Mr. Senyshyn has not appeared previously on the Toronto concert stage, but this recent recital marked Mr. Senyshyn’s return as a finished, mature, artist.
From the outset there was no question of the pianist’s no nonsense and determined approach to his music. Briefly acknowledging his audience as he shot to the piano, he seated himself and immediately plunged into Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 10 No.3. This D major Sonata is an early work that is often favoured by pianists as its four contrasting movements offer a seemingly infinite variety of musical expressive possibilities. Mr. Senyshyn favoured a rapid tempo in this work and as it eventually turned out a rapid tempo in most of the pieces on the program.
Harold Schonberg has claimed that modem pianists tend to favor much slower tempi when compared to the performance practices of the masters of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mr. Senyshyn apparently agrees with him. Coupled with the accelerated tempo was a rhythmical thrust that demonstrated the artists’ mastery in the articulation of left-hand parts which allowed him to underscore interesting harmonies and in turn, bring melodies into bold relief. This was especially evident in the Chopin Sonata. Here once again, the pianist followed the school of the old masters in his performance of the Funeral March. Like Anton Rubinstein and later Rachmaninoff, Mr. Senyshyn tinkered with Chopin’s dynamics and adopted a fortissimo immediately after the trio with a steady decrescendo to the Presto. An altogether interesting touch that raises pianistic spectres!
The opening Brahms Intermezzi after intermission continued the romantic tone of the program. Two Revutsky [a 20th century Ukrainian composer] Preludes written much in the vein of Scriabin were given impassioned renderings with an especially scintillating performance of the Opus 7. The concert closed with a Chopin group commencing with the G Minor Ballade which was built to a thunderous climax. The last page of this Ballade was especially noteworthy in its power and intensity. The two Chopin Nocturnes were given poised and sensitive performances and the closing B minor Scherzo was dashed off with great panache.
Especially impressive were the dynamic contrasts employed by Mr. Senyshyn. The dynamics were as great as any pianist and certainly greater than most. Even in spite of the great volumes of sound, there was never any annoying pounding which is so often the case with many young pianists.
Mr. Senyshyn’s present tour continues with recital appearances in Quebec, Washington and New York. Judging by the standing ovation and the tumultuous applause accorded the pianist on Saturday night, the tour promises to be an extremely successful one.
Dr. Frank Csik,
Freelance music critic,
Toronto
“His [Senyshyn’s] concerts reveal extraordinary qualities of youthfulness and maturity.”
René Picard
Conseiller Culterel
Canadian Embassy
Washington, D. C.
“Senyshyn is a lion on a throne…Once he places himself on the throne he attacks as a lion would, with class, style and strength. He is in full control of the keyboard. It is almost in one move that he sits and plays, There is no delay. He knows what he wants to do and he does it….
Just when the audience was brought upright in their seats, he sent it into soundless hush as he gave the keys his special caress….he played with decreased magnitude. He played with grandeur and dignity. He brought the audience to its feet. He brought this writer to a sweat. If this writer could fondle the typewriter the way this student of Antonina Yaroshevich touches the piano, a Pulitzer award would follow.”
Don Wilcox of the Enterprise-Bulletin
UWO London Free Press Anxiety
“Originality”
— New York Tımes
‘‘Enormous power. . .
Sophıstication”
— The Washington Post
Upcoming Concerts
I am very pleased to announce an all Liszt joint piano recital with the great and world renowned pianist Alan Kogosowski . As you will see below in this email, he has a huge international career and happens to be a great favourite of the Royal family since the late Princess Diana befriended him and the late Pope John Paul for his masterful playing of Chopin. I feel very honoured that he has chosen me to pair up with him for this particular all Liszt recital.
We will also be playing a two piano recital at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, January 27, 2008. This recital will feature the works of Mozart, Schubert and Rachmaninoff. I am also looking forward to playing a joint recital with my wife, Dr. Susan O’Neill-Senyshyn, flautist, at the Chan Centre, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 6th, 2008.
The first joint recital will be held on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 7:30 PM at the Massey Theatre (735 Eighth Avenue, New Westminster, BC. This hall, built in 1949, was the former home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra before it moved to the Orpheum. The acoustics are excellent. The hall is very closely located to the Skytrain (Expo Line Skytrain To New Westminster Station at Columbia).
Tickets will be sold by Ticketmaster (TicketWeb Canada, a division of Ticketmaster Canada Ltd. (”TicketWeb”) for General Admission: $25.00 and $20.00 (Seniors and Students) and the area adjacent to the Dean’s Office in the Faculty of Education. I am most grateful that Alana Nordstrand and Devi Pabla will be handling the sale of a limited number of tickets (200). They have been very kind! Alan and I do not want to impose more on their time than is necessary. Tickets are also available through www.TicketWeb.ca as of November 13th, 2006. They may also be purchased over the phone at 888-222-6608.
Please note that proceeds from the concert will cover costs and fund other concerts (already mentioned) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and possibly one other Benefit Concert to be announced at a later time and to be held at the Orpheum later in the next year. For more information about our current concert please see below:
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Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 7:30 PM at the Massey Theatre
A Liszt Recital
Two Sides of the Multi-Faceted Franz Liszt
Pianist: Yaroslav Senyshyn
Original Compositions by Franz Liszt:
Étude d’Exécution Transcendante, No. 11 (”Harmonies du Soir”)
Annees de Pelerinage: Seconde Annee: Italie
Sur le 104e Sonnet de Petrarque
Annees de Pelerinage : Premiere Annee – Suisse
Chapelle de Guillaume Tell
Au Lac de Wallenstadt
Orage
Vallee d’Obermann
Intermission
Pianist: Alan Kogosowski
Operatic Transcriptions by Franz Liszt:
Reminiscences of Lucia di Lammermoor (1840)
Miserere from Il Trovatore (1860)
Reminiscences of Norma (1843)
Rigoletto Paraphrase (1860)
Waltz from Faust (1860)
Liebestod – Tristan and Isolde (Wagner, 1865) Liszt /Kogosowski
Yaroslav Senyshyn was born in Toronto of Ukrainian parentage. His studies began on the piano with the great Antonina Yaroshevich of the Kiev Conservatory. He studied with Damiana Bratuz, Howard Munn, Clifford von Kuster, Katherine Wolpe and Pierre Souverain. A recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, he holds a Bachelor and Master of Music in Performance degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto respectively. As well, he completed a Bachelor of Education degree at the Faculty of Education, University of Toronto and a Doctorate in Philosophy of Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
Yaroslav Senyshyn’s appearances have won him acclaim in many major concert halls throughout the world including New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall, Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre and Massey Hall and the Bolshoi Hall at the Moscow Conservatory. Most recently he has performed at Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Simon Fraser University (a scholarship benefit performance) at the SFU Theatre and was invited to give a special recital in Toronto to celebrate the joining of OISE and the University of Toronto. He has been featured in a Georgetown University radio broadcast in Washington D.C. on Canadian performers including Glenn Gould, Louis Lortie and Anton Kuerti. While playing at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., he appeared in the “Critic’s Choice” column of the Washington Post and after his debut there was referred to as a pianist of “enormous power” and “sophisticated finger work”. (The Washington Post)
Senyshyn is a Professor of philosophy of music aesthetics and moral education at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Education. As well he has published extensively in international and national journals such as the Philosophy of Music Education Review, Musica-Realta, Interchange, the Journal of Educational Thought, Educational Leadership, the Canadian Journal of Education, and other publications. He is Past President of the Simon Fraser University Faculty Association and a member-at-large on the national Executive of CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers). His performances have won him acclaim in major concert halls throughout the world.
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Alan Kogosowski’s career has been one of creative surprises. Not content to be one of the foremost pianists of his generation, he has spread his talents richly over many areas related to the great music repertoire he so ably commands.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Kogosowski conceived and presented the prestigious concert series Schubertiades at Sotheby’s in London for ten years. A recreation of the 19th century style of musical presentation, where artists and performers gathered in glamorous convivial surroundings and played their works in mixed combinations for friends and acquaintances, these concerts at Sotheby’s soon acquired a cult following. Members of the Royal Family often attended, and the opportunity of viewing the latest art collections added an extra dimension of interest to the evenings. CD recordings, under the label Music From Sotheby’s, were issued and became highly popular.
Moving to America, Kogosowski restored and orchestrated two major works for piano and orchestra, by Rachmaninoff and Chopin respectively. Both were premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Neeme Järvi and broadcast nationally. The CD recording of the Rachmaninoff Concerto Élégiaque, went ‘straight to the top of our list,’ said The American Record Guide.
These great additions to the concert repertoire were followed by a 6-part TV series on the life of Frederic Chopin, conceived, written and produced, as well as performed, by Kogosowski. This series was first broadcast in New York in 2003, and hailed by the New York Times as ‘outstanding.’ The series is now available as a double-DVD set.
Next came two important books – Genius of the Piano – Etude!, a comprehensive account of the life of Chopin as well as the history and the art of piano playing, and How to Prevent RSI – a pianist’s perspective for everyone” (available as e-books at www.kogosowski.com).
Back in his home town of Melbourne, Kogosowski encountered a young Chinese soprano who reminded him of his adored Maria Callas, and they gave a joint recital juxtaposing great arias with operatic fantasies for piano by Franz Liszt. This concert was broadcast to great acclaim, inspiring a magnificent new CD set, Kogosowski and Xiao Wang at the Opera. The combination of spectacular piano fantasies by Liszt with key arias from the operas sung by an extraordinary young artist is a programming concept Liszt himself would surely have approved.
Likewise, Kogosowski hopes that Sergei Rachmaninoff and Frederic Chopin would also have approved of the way in which he has brought new life to two great and important, but little known, compositions in their canon.
From New Jersey, Kogosowski goes to Los Angeles to perform in a new play about Chopin and George Sand by actress and writer Diana Douglas (mother of Michael).
Alan Kogosowski
For a detailed seating plan, please visit www.seatadvisor.com/search
Main Entrance – 735 Eighth Avenue, New Westminster, BC
Just east of the 8th Avenue & 8th Street intersection. Watch for large reader board at street side & Massey Theatre awning above main entrance doors.
Parking
Free parking is available on school grounds after 3:30pm Monday to Friday and all-day on weekends. Enter parking lot on 8th Avenue just east of 8th & 8th intersection. Driveway is between theatre & Moody Park Arena.
To see a virtual tour of Massey Theatre, please visit www.seevirtual360.com/2774
How to get to Massey
Massey Theatre can be easily accessed from a variety of routes (see map below):
Queensborough Bridge (from Highway 99, Alex Fraser Bridge or Richmond)
Veer right off Queensborough Bridge onto New Westminster/6th Avenue exit. Veer left onto 6th Avenue. Follow 6th Avenue to 8th Street. Turn Left onto 8th Street. Turn right at 8th Avenue.
Patullo Bridge (From Surrey)
Straight onto McBride Blvd. from bridge. Follow McBride to 8th Avenue. Turn left onto 8th Avenue.
Port Mann Bridge – Highway 1 (From Surrey & the Fraser Valley)
Freeway to Brunette Avenue North (second Brunette Exit) Follow Brunette to Braid Street (first light). Turn right onto Braid Follow Braid as it becomes 8th Avenue.
Highway 1 – Canada Way (from Vancouver)
Exit at Canada Way (exit 33). Turn left onto Canada Way. Follow Canada Way as it becomes 8th Street. Turn left onto 8th Avenue.
Lougheed Highway
Turn left (south) onto North Road. Right onto Braid Street. Follow Braid as it becomes 8th Avenue.
Via Skytrain
Take the Expo Line Skytrain To New Westminster Station at Columbia and 8th St. Take bus number 123 Brentwood Station up 8th St. to 8th Ave.
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Selected Excerpts Of Yaroslav Senyshyn’s Playing
You will need QuickTime plugin to play the following clips.
| Schubert | Sonata in A Major, Op. posth. 120, DV 664
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| Cochrane | Lyric Piece (Number 21) |
| Beethoven | Sonata Opus 57 in F minor (“Appassionata”) |
| Liszt | Transcendental Étude, No.11 (”Harmonies du Soir”) |
| Revutsky | Prélude, No. 2, Op. 7 |
| Chopin | Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 |
| Bach-Siloti | Prélude in B minor |
| Tschaikowsky | From the Season Op. 37A: |
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Liszt |
Années de Pelerinage: Premiere Année – Suisse
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