Faculty: Mykola Suk
Mykola Suk, Assistant Professor of Music, received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance from Moscow State Conservatory, having studied with Lev Vlasenko. He also holds a combined Bachelor and Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Chamber Music from the Moscow State Conservatory. Before coming to the United States he served as Professor of Piano at the Kiev State Conservatory and Moscow State Conservatory.
Mr. Suk has given master classes at many festivals and music schools around the world. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at various music schools such as the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music (NY), Columbia University (NY), and the University of Southern Alabama. In 2001, he settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, taking responsibility for keyboard studies in the Music Department at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
“An astonishing blend of muscular power, poetry and utter control - he will prove to be one of the more formidable talents to have appeared in this country in years.”
This assessment by the American Record Guide certainly describes well the Ukrainian-American pianist, Mykola Suk, who gained international recognition as the winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 1971 International Liszt-Bartok Competition in Budapest, Hungary. His international career has spanned four continents, with performances in the most prestigious venues from the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory to Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Toronto Star comments on his "...enormous digital control...such an impressive technique was so completely subsumed in the task of musical characterization. Suk never used the piano to show off; he made it the servant of Liszt’s expressive ideas."
Mr. Suk has appeared as soloist with numerous leading orchestras, from the Russian National Symphony under Mikhail Pletnev to the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under Roman Kofman. He has collaborated artistically with the world’s outstanding conductors, among them Charles Bruck, Janos Ferencsik, Arvid Jansons, Stefan Turchak, James DePreist and Carl St. Clair. Mr. Suk’s interviews, live performances, and CD recordings have been broadcast throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia on prominent radio stations and broadcast systems, such as WQXR and WNYC, New York, WMFT, Chicago, and WGBH Boston.
Since his first public appearance at age eight, Mr. Suk has given recitals world-wide in the countries of the former Soviet Union, in France, Germany, England, Finland, Egypt, Mexico, United States, Canada, Korea, China, Mongolia and Australia. The European Piano Teacher’s Journal wrote that Mykola Suk is “...surely the most towering and volcanic talent to have come out of Russia since Anton Rubinstein.” In addition, Suk’s passion for chamber music has brought him to many distinguished chamber music festivals and collaborations throughout the world, among them the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Kiev International Music Festival (Ukraine), Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City.
Mr. Suk is an avid believer in 20th and 21st century piano literature. He has been honored to premiere numerous works, especially for those by Ukrainian composers such as Valentin Silvestrov, Ivan Karabyts and Myroslav Skoryk. Most of the compositions were composed for, dedicated to, or commissioned by Suk. He has recorded to high acclaim for the Melodia (Russia), Russian Disc, Hungaroton, Meldac/Triton (Japan) and Troppe Note/Cambria labels.
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Mr. Suk is managed by Shupp Artists Management. To learn more, please visit http://www.shuppartists.com/Shupp/Artists/Suk.htm.
News of current interest:
Elena Miraztchiyska, a student of Mr. Suk, won First Prize in the 2007 MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition, and became the first female to win this honor in the history of the competition.
About his latest CD for TNC Recordings (Liszt, Thalberg, Kolessa, Baley):
“The recital opens with the Liszt Sonata that represents big piano-playing in its most positive, emotionally generous manifestation...Every so often an unusual voicing, phrase grouping or accent spices up the narrative flow, yet never for the sake of effect or novelty alone.”
-Jed Distler, Gramophone, September 2007
“Suk is a powerhouse of a pianist who sets his own individual stamp on the Liszt Sonata. Although the lyrical elements are emphasized, there is little slighting of the muscular display sections...the more poetic passages are integrated into the structure.”
-Becker, American Record Guide, March/April 2007
Reviews of recent performances:
“These were thrilling interpretations, and one had the impression that he was only warming up.”
-Miriam Halfmann, General-Anzeiger (Germany), February 2006
“Whether the tempestuous Allegro or the leisurely Adagio, the exuberant audience was entranced with the pianist’s superb artistry, exquisite style and perfect artistic performance.”
-XiaMen Daily News (China), May 2007
“And then the performance of two Hungarian Rhapsodies: What elegance! What ease! What freedom!”
-Bonner Rundschau (Germany), February 2006
“In the Ukraine, Mr. Suk was for many years a symbol of piano artistry...distinguished musicians still wonder at his ability to carefully and attentively approach many different styles and genres of music.”
-Julia Bentya, Kommersant (Ukraine), June 2007
“Suk is an excellent Liszt player...He knows how to grab hold of this music and make it personal and flashy and dramatically oratorical, and, on a more technical level, cause the gigantic chords to ring impressively – you heard every note, not mush.”
-Timothy Mangan, The Orange County Register, October 2006