Libby Larsen, Dmitri
Vorobiev, and Polina Khatsko are the guest artists/presenters for the 2013 NMTA
State Conference. Larsen, the commissioned composer, will share “The Art of
Composing Music” and will be present for the premiere of her new piece which
you can read more about in her interview here.
Vorobiev will perform ($15/adult, $10/student) on Thursday, 7:30pm, in
O’Donnell Auditorium on the Wesleyan campus. He and Khatsko took the time to
share a little about themselves and what they will be bringing to the
conference.
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Polina Khatsko - guest clinician at the
NMTA 2013 State Conference |
Khatsko, guest
clinician this week, has a special place in her heart for Nebraska already,
having studied at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
“Kearney, NE, was my
first American home... It’s hard for me to think of another place as ideal as
Nebraska to start my journey in the U.S. The sincerity, simplicity, and
generosity of Midwestern people is extraordinary, and it’s what stole my heart
from the very beginning—what made me feel incredibly welcomed, encouraged me,
and helped to overcome any hurdles on the way to assimilating into a new
culture.”
Indeed, Khatsko
shared, “Kearney, Nebraska, is also the place where I truly learned to smile –
a quality that in the 1990’s, wasn’t too common among people of Belarus, where
I came from.”
Khatsko will bring
her smile back to Nebraska as she and her husband, Vorobiev, will present a
Master Class on Friday afternoon for the winners of the MTNA Piano Competition.
Khatsko will also be giving two presentations on the Russian School of Piano
Playing; she wants her audience to be aware of the importance attached to
“the culture of sound, or more precisely, sound production as related to piano
playing.
Vorobiev, who will be
performing Thursday evening, at 7:30pm, in O’Donnell Auditorium, says that for
him, the “culture of sound production” that is so vital to the Russian school
of piano playing, is the way that he was taught from an early age.
“I am thankful for
that particular way of upbringing that I had. It really gave me so much in
depth and dedication to help me get where I am now. Focusing on: how you
listen, what you listen for, and how you respond to certain things when you
play.”
In addition to the
focus on listening, Vorobiev said that he received a “vigorous training in
music history and music theory.” Music was certainly in his blood, Vorobiev’s
grandpa and mom were both musicians, and he was enrolled in music school, “not
just lessons, actual music school—theory, history, and two lessons per week,”
from the age of 6. His love for the piano was especially strengthened by going
to concerts, and he remembers fondly hearing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
when he was six.
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Dmitri Vorobiev - performing
Liszt and Beethoven on
Thursday at 7:30pm in
Wesleyan's O'Donnell Auditorium |
Vorobiev went on to
explain that he was not only involved in classical music. Around the age of 13
or 14, he got into heavy metal. “It was all part of me. But, something about
classical music was always sacred for me, I guess.”
Like any kid, he
studied and practiced, but at times, “I was lazy, too.”
Ultimately, about the
age of 14, Vorobiev made the decision to become a professional musician—because
he really loved piano. Although he had not heard the phrase yet, “One of the
best ways to spend your life is to spend it doing something that will outlast
it,” Vorobiev says that it sums up what was at the back of his mind with that
decision.
Khatsko says that,
for her, pursuing music as a career has to do with “the privilege of making an
impact on and enriching people's lives, and the privilege of connecting to
people on any level, at any time, in any place.”
On Vorobiev’s program
for Thursday night, he will be sharing a little bit of himself by playing works
of Liszt and Beethoven. A year ago, he recorded a CD of Liszt, and right now,
Vorobiev has set himself the goal of performing the complete solo piano works
of Beethoven. Therefore, this performance of two composers very close to him
will represent “who I am, and what I am doing.”
Both Khatsko and
Vorobiev have advice for young musicians.
Khatsko reminds them:
“Aside from all the
known benefits of having music in your life, you should realize that music has
unique power... power that lets you open up, express the inexpressible, find
comfort, unleash worries and tame anger, and most importantly - discover
yourself, find sides of yourself that you didn't even know were there.”
And Vorobiev, while
relating a story of a young student who couldn’t remember where Middle C was
from week to week, reminds parents:
“Inspiration also
comes from parents—how much do they do. Take the kids to concerts. Teachers can
tell you all these great things, but if the parents do not participate, it just
stays on the side and doesn’t become a part of life. I wish that kids would
have a little more eagerness to learn classical music.
‘Live your life...’
might not mean much to an 8-year-old, but learn how to practice, learn in
piano, or violin, or whatever. It will ensure that you will have a very
successful life. A recent Nobel prize winner, a chemist, in his acceptance
speech said he owes everything to his music teacher—because that’s where he
learned to practice.”
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