Faculty: Virko Baley
Virko Baley, composer, conductor and pianist, is the first American to be awarded the coveted Shevchenko Prize for music (1996). Mr. Baley is currently principal guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Kiev Camerata and principal conductor of the international Kiev Music Fest in Ukraine. Other guest conducting appearances include the St. Petersburg and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestras, Ministry of Culture Orchestra (Moscow), Kiev Philharmonic, Lviv Philharmonic, Shevchenko Theatre Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City, Winnipeg Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic and Cleveland Chamber Orchestra.
Born in Ukraine in 1938, Virko Baley began his musical training in Germany, continuing it in the United States at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (now California Institute of the Arts).
A highly respected composer, Mr. Baley has received grants and commissions from numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, Project 1000 and the Winnipeg Symphony, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, Nevada Symphony and Continuum, and from individual artists. In 1989 Mr. Baley co-produced and composed the music for the film, Swan
Lake: The Zone, which won two top awards at Cannes, the first Ukrainian film ever to receive a prize there.
In reviewing the New York premiere of Virko Baley's Violin Concerto No. 1 concert, Village Voice critic Kyle Gann wrote: "Though European in its polish and complexity, the work provided the very feature that audiences listen for desperately...:sonic images memorable enough to take home."The work has been recorded on the Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga label, MD 417116. He has also conducted the orchestral music of Boris Lyatoshynsky for Saison Russe, RUS 288085. "Dreamtime" is the third volume of his chamber music released in 1966 by Cambria Master Recordings (CD1090), the other two are "Jurassic Bird" (CD 1077) and "Orpheus Singing" (CD 1087). Mr. Baley's music is published by Troppe Note Publishing Co., Las Vegas.
In addition to his musical activities, Virko Baley's scholarly work has established him as an eminent authority on the music of the former Soviet Union. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera includes his entries on the music of the Ukraine, and his articles have been published in international journals such as Melos, Numus West and Sucasnist. He has written program notes on Soviet music for the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Mexico Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony and Continuum. He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, The Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Toronto.
Mr. Baley is currently on the faculty of the Music Department of University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he teaches composition and music literature courses. The Board of Regents of University of Nevada awarded him the prestigious 1966 Award for Creative Activities, its highest recognition.
Discography
Kiev Camerata, Vol. 1 - Virko Baley, conductor. Schoenberg: Transfigured Night; Mozart: Symphony No. 29; Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10, arr. by H. Stadlmair. (Troppe Note/Cambria CD-1402)
Kiev Camerata, Vol. 2 - Virko Baley, conductor. Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks; Wagner: Siegfried-Idyll; Karabyts: Concertino; Silvestrov: Intermezzo; Baley: Adam's Apple (Troppe Note/Cambria 1403)
Chamber Music of Virko Baley Vol. 3: "Dreamtime", a masque for seven players in nineteen movements. Recorded by California E.A.R. Unit (Cambria CD-1090)
Chamber Music of Virko Baley Vol. 2: "Orpheus Singing" for oboe and string quartet, Duo-Concertante for violoncello and piano, "Violin Concerto No. 1, quasi una fantasia" (chamber version), "Dreamtime Suite No. 1"; performers include Stephen Caplan, oboe, Natalia Khoma, cello, Tom Teh Chiu, violin, Virko Baley, piano, members of CONTINUUM, and New Juilliard Ensemble conducted by Joel Sachs (Cambria CD-1087)
Chamber Music of Virko Baley Vol. 1: "Jurassic Bird" (Title from "Sculptured Birds") with William Powell, Partita for Trombone, Piano and Tape with Miles Anderson, Nocturnal No. 5 with Laura Spitzer, piano and Nocturnal No. 6 with Elissa Stutz (Cambria CD-1077).
20th-Century Concert Etudes for Solo Violin. Eugene Gratovich, violin. Baley: ...Figments; Flynn: Fantasy Etudes; Shapey: Four Etudes; Blank: Toccatina & Mixtures (Titanic Records Ti-199)
Virko Baley, conductor, "Young Russia" State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, Orchestral Music of Boris Lyatoshynsky: Polish Suite, Overture on 4 Ukrainian Themes, Intermezzo, Lyric Poem, Fantastic March (Le Chant du Monde/Russian Season RUS 288 085 HM 90)
Virko Baley, conductor, The USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra: Baley, Violin Concerto No. 1 with Y. Mazurkevich, violin; Ives, 4th of July; Artyomov, Concert of the 13,with M Suk, piano; Silvestrov, Postludium for piano and o rchestra with E. Stutz, piano (Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga MK 417116)
The Music of Morton Subotnick
, featuring "The Wild Beasts" written for and recorded by Miles Anderson, trombone and Virko Baley, piano on Nonesuch, 1981.
20th Century Ukrainian Violin Music with Eugene Gratovich, violin, Virko Baley, piano and Bertram Turetzky, contrabass on Orion, 1978.
Miles Anderson Plays His Slide Trombone Again with Virko Baley, piano on Crystal, 1977.
Music of Portugal with Virko Baley, piano on Educo, 1977.
Dragonetti Lives Bertram Turetzky, contrabass and Virko Baley, piano on Takoma, 1975.
Critic Reviews
"The compositional range of his fertile musical imagination is impressive and compelling."
Joseph Schwantner
"Virko Baley is a composer whose music is at once seductively engaging, yet sophisticated and complex with an air of intriguing mystery. His musical instincts are sure and dependable, his ideas original, his technique formidable, his intellect searching and elegant. In short, this is music which is imaginative in constr uct and powerfully persuasive in its affect. Unfettered by dogma the musical language is original as it generates and traverses an enormous range of emotional expression. Baley's music has its own voice which sings with passion and conviction."
Bernard Rands, composer
"Virko Baley is a wonderful composer with a unique voice"
John Corigliano