I came to Alaska in 1973 to escape the life of a young artist in Seattle. For over ten years I wrote almost no music. Since beginning composition again in 1984, I've been fortunate to work with at least as many musicians as any other Alaskan now active, developing several lasting relationships with incredible musicians, arts administrators, and aficionados.No artist has helped me more than Juliana Osinchuk. I've written three solo keyboard works, three song cycles and a piano concerto with her in mind.
This winter, Juliana has been presenting a series of recitals down below, featuring works by Frederic Chopin. On Sunday, she will present this program at Anchorage's Steinway Gallery. Today and tomorrow, she is promoting a CD she has recorded, with proceeds benefitting the Alaska Cancer Care Alliance.
Here's Mike Dunham, the Arts Editor for the Anchorage Daily News, on Juliana's weekend activities:
Pianist Juliana Osinchuk's latest CD, "Keys to Recovery," will get it's public release today at a party at the Steinway Gallery, 637 A St. (across from the Anchorage Museum at 7th and A). Refreshments and door prizes are part of the event, which is a fundraiser for the Alaska Cancer Care Alliance.
The title of the disc reflects the theme of "music as a tool for healing." It features pleasant and generally upbeat pieces by Hummel, Poulenc and Rachmaninoff. (Yes, Rachmaninoff CAN be upbeat.) Highlights include Granados' "Spanish Dances" and Osinchuk's own "Happy Birthday, Wolfgang," a quilt of well-known Mozart tunes floating back and forth with elements of "Happy Birthday." Buy a copy today and 50 percent will go to the Alliance, which works to help people with cancer and their families.
The release party will go from 11 a.m. on Sat., April 10, to 2 p.m. On Sunday, Osinchuk will be back at the gallery for an Alaska Festival of Music all-Chopin recital. That will take place at 7:30 p.m.
I can't over-estimate how exciting Juliana Osinchuk's Chopin interpretations are. She played four selections from this concert for one of my classes at UAA last Tuesday, and some of the piano students in the audience were quite bowled over at the quality of the renditions.
Here's Juliana performing her own Variations on Alaska's Flag, as an encore at an Anchorage Symphony Orchestra concert one year ago:
And here's a link to my favorite performance of one of my works by Dr. Osinchuk, Semichi Toccata, live at Seattle's Fremont Foundry.
image - my two favorite Alaska artists - Diane Benson & Juliana Osinchuk.
1 comment:
Having come to Alaska in order to escape the life of a young artist,
........one has to wonder who that artist was and ponder the reasons why Phil thought he had to escape from that artist's life.
I'm left wondering where that artist is now and whether Phil's escaping ultimately benefitted or detracted from that artist's life.
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