Solomiya Ivakhiv & Steven Beck
Biography Solomiya Ivakhiv & Steven Beck
Solomiya Ivakhiv
has quickly earned a reputation for performing with “distinctive charm and subtle profundity” (Daily Freeman, New York) and “crystal clear and noble sound” (Culture and Life, Ukraine). Known for her work as soloist and chamber musician, Ivakhiv has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, Curtis Institute’s Field Concert Hall, Italian Academy at Columbia University, Longy School’s Pickman Hall, San Jose Chamber Music Society, Old First Concerts in San Francisco, Astoria Music Festival in Portland, Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, and UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. She has made solo appearances with Istanbul State Symphony, Charleston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, China’s Hunan Symphony Orchestra, and Bach Festival Orchestra. Highly sought after as a chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with such renowned artists as Roberto Diaz, Steven Isserlis, Philip Setzer, Gilbert Kalish, Colin Carr, Marcy Rosen, and Eugene Drucker.
Featured appearances at music festivals include Tanglewood, Embassy Series in Washington, Emerson Quartet Festival, Newport Music Festival, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Banff Centre and Ottawa Chamberfest (Canada), Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France), Prussia Cove (England), Verbier Festival and Kammermusik Bodensee (Switzerland), AlpenKammerMusik (Austria), and Contemporary Music “Contrasts” and KyivFest (Ukraine).
A dedicated champion of new music, Ivakhiv has been privileged to premiere numerous new works by composers Eli Marshall, David Ludwig, John B. Hedges, Bohdan Kryvopust, Yevhen Stankovych, Bruce Adolphe, and Oleksandr Shchetynsky. A passionate educator, she has conducted masterclasses at Yale, Columbia, Penn State, Hartt School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Curtis Summerfest, University of Maryland, Bard College Prep, SUNY – Fredonia, Guangzhou and Hunan Conservatories in China, and regularly collaborates with high school outreach programs throughout the US. Ivakhiv is a member of American String Teachers Association – Connecticut Chapter.
Ivakhiv became Artistic Director of New York’s Music at the Institute (MATI) concert series in 2010, where she is a frequent performer. Her debut solo album, Ukraine: Journey to Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano, was released by Labor Records (NAXOS) in 2016. Recorded with pianist Angelina Gadeliya, it was featured in Top 5 New Classical Releases on iTunes. Fanfare Magazine wrote: “…superlative and consummate artistry… [Ivakhiv] must be considered [among] major artists of our time.”
Her performances are often broadcast on National Public Radio, Voice of America, WRTI, KUNR, Ukrainian National Radio and Television, and China’s Hunan Television. Ivakhiv is the recipient of several international honors, including Sergei Prokofiev and Yaroslav Kocian international awards, Fritz Kreisler and Charles Miller awards from Curtis Institute of Music, Ukraine Presidential Award, and 2016 New Scholar Award from UConn’s School of Fine Arts.
Ivakhiv is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola and String Department Head at University of Connecticut, and Professor of Violin at Longy School of Music of Bard College. She graduated with honors from Curtis Institute of Music, where she was Concertmaster of both Curtis and Tanglewood orchestras, and studied with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Rafael Druian. She received her Master of Music degree from M. Lysenko Music Academy in Lviv, Ukraine, studying with Oresta Kohut, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Pamela Frank and Philip Setzer.
Ivakhiv plays on a Tetsuo Matsuda violin, an ex-Joseph Silverstein instrument.
