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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Juno nominee Larysa Kuzmenko is a Toronto-based composer and pianist.  Her music has been performed and broadcast throughout the world.  Her works have been commissioned, performed and recorded on CD by many outstanding artists.

Kuzmenko’s works demonstrate a strong affinity towards the mainstream tradition of classical music.   She imbues her music with strong melodic sense, and a firm rooting in traditional, albeit extended tonal processes.  She has appeared as a pianist in several countries, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the St. Lawrence Centre, Roy Thomson Hall, and Massey Hall, as well as several other venues throughout Canada.

Larysa Kuzmenko is currently on staff at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, where she teaches piano, harmony, and composition.  She is married to Canadian composer Gary Kulesha.


NEWS AND EVENTS
—— New Commission ——
Ms. Kuzmenko has recently been commissioned to write a work for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Children's choir through a generous grant from the Ontario Arts Council. This work "Behold the Night" will be based on parts of the text from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It will be premièred in Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 7:30pm with additional repeat performance on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 7:30pm.

Christopher Plummer
The concert will also feature the work by William Walton "Music for the film Henry V" featuring the narration by the legendary actor Christopher Plummer as he brings Shakespeare's warrior king vibrantly to life, and Tchaikovsky's riveting evocation of the tragic romance between the "star-crossed lovers" of old Verona.
  • Peter Oundjian, conductor
  • Toronto Children's Chorus
  • Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
  • Christopher Plummer, narrator
—— The Art of Canadian Music ——

The Portrait Society of Canada presented 'The Art of Canadian Music' on March 8 to April 1, 2011 at the John B. Aird Gallery in celebration with the many tributes to the March 8 Juno awards. More than 35 portraitures were showcased in a variety of contemporary portrait styles, including classical realism, impressionism, primitivism, and photo realism that captured Canadian Composers and performers by professional artists and members of the Portrait Society of Canada — the country's leading group for this art genre.

The exhibit was organized by Veronica Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan, president and founder of the Portrait Society of Canada, who has worked professionally as a portrait artist for over 25 years. Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan, who paints in the classical tradition (old masters style), contributed three paintings: Tapestry New Opera director Tom Diamond, pianist Lucas Porter, and Juno-nominated composer Larysa Kuzmenko.


"Painting Kuzmenko"


Kuzmenko's Portrait
Humbled by the mystical nature of composition, both musical and literary, Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan wanted to pay homage to the art form, which is why she painted Kuzmenko.

In the painting, Kuzmenko is seated at the piano, dressed in a long black concert dress, composing. Propped up against the piano is the score for her "Memoriam for the Victims of Chernobyl," a eulogy to the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear disaster.

Shy, caught up in her world of creativity, the composer does not look up, providing a challenge for the painter.

"You have to take the music from somewhere," says Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan. "You have to invent something new. It's like being a radio station—you have to accept some radio signal from space. I have the same feeling about composing. That's why I chose a composer."

— Madalina Hubert (The Epoch Times)
MEMORIAM
“Memoriam for the victims of Chornobyl”

Has recently been published by Plangere Publications and is available through them at www.plangere.com. Plangere is also publishing Fantasy for Solo Cello and "In Search of Eldorado" in versions for mezzo soprano and soprano.

LATEST REVIEWS
Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011

Behold the Night

 

Kuzmenko's new work, Behold the Night, is a two-movement setting of a pair of poems from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Over hill, over dale," and "Now the hungry lion roars." Scored for orchestra and children's choir, it's a harmonically conservative work – as charming and colourful as any film score by Danny Elfman or John Williams. 

— Colin Eatock

LATEST COMPACT DISC RELEASES
Cellist Vernon Regehr presents previously unrecorded, unaccompanied works of six composers, all written in the past decade. As the title of the album suggests, the works display a highly varied array of expressive and emotional landscapes, utilizing the instrument's broad range of tone colour.
 
Kuzmenko's "One Sister Have I in Our House" for Women's chorus and piano was commissioned by the Tapestry Singers in joyful celebration of their sister singer Sandy Quarles, a gentle soul and a lively spirit. Recorded live at St. Matthews Episcopal Church.
 
Kuzmenko's JUNO Nominated Piano Concerto on Compact Disc with Pianist "Christina Petrowska Quilico".
 

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