Violinist, professor of violin and viola at the University of Connecticut and Longy Bard College Conservatory, artistic director of the MATI Music Series of the Ukrainian Institute of America, Honored Artist of Ukraine (2021).
Biography
She was born on April 3, 1980 in Lviv in a family of teachers. Father Orest Ivakhiv is a native of Lviv, doctor of technical sciences, professor at the Lviv Polytechnic National University. Oleksandr Ivakhiv's mother is a musician, teacher of choral conducting and piano.
Solomiya Ivakhiv felt a love for music as a child. In Soviet times, she only dreamed of playing the violin in different countries of the world. At the age of 12, she made her debut as a soloist with the Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. In 1993, she became a laureate of the International Violin Competition named after J. Kociana (Usti nad Orlitzi, Czech Republic).
In 1997, she graduated with a gold medal from the Lviv Specialized Music School named after S. Krushelnytska (under the supervision of Professor Oresta Kogut and teacher Yuriy Golda). She continued her studies at the Music Academy named after Mykola Lysenko in Lviv (professor Oresta Kogut's class), where she was awarded a scholarship by the President of Ukraine and received a Diploma with Honors in 2001.
At the age of 17, after winning the competitive selection among 160 applicants from different countries of the world, she became a student of the world-famous Music Institute named after Curtis in Philadelphia. Studied with outstanding performers Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, Raphael Druyan, etc. Solomiya became the only Ukrainian woman who won the position of concertmaster of the symphony orchestra of the Music Institute named after her during the 95-year history of the Institute. Curtis. Upon graduation in 2003, she was awarded a gold medal named after Fritz Kreisler.
In 2010, Solomiya Ivakhiv received her doctorate in music from Stony Brook University, New York, under the supervision of Pamela Frank, Ana Kavafian, and Philip Setzer. She is Professor of Violin and Viola and Head of the Strings Department at the University of Connecticut, Professor of Violin at the Bard College Longue Conservatory (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and Artistic Director of the MOTHER Music Series of the Ukrainian Institute of America.
Creative activity
Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv confidently wins the favor of listeners in concert halls of Europe, Asia and North America. Music critics note her high technical skill in combination with exceptional musicality of performance. Solomia's inspired performance captivates with a rich richness of colors, depth of interpretation, elegance and artistic refinement.
The violinist is known as a soloist and performer of chamber music. Her concerts are broadcast by American National Public Radio and Voice of America, Ukrainian National Radio and Television, Dutch National Radio, Chinese and Japanese Television.
Solomiya Ivakhiv performs on the stage of the famous Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Field Curtis Hall, Pickman Hall, etc. The violinist has solo performances with symphony orchestras: Charleston, Istanbul State, Slovak National, Southern Utah, Love Marion in the USA, Hunan in China, etc. In her native Ukraine, she performs with the National Orchestra, the Academic Orchestras of the Lviv and Chernihiv Philharmonic Orchestras, the Lviv Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the Kyiv Camerata, the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra, and others.
Collaborates with prominent contemporary musicians: Gary Grafman, Roberto Diaz, Peter Wiley, Gil Kalish, Lucy Shelton, Steven Iserlis and members of the Guarneri and Emerson Quartets, etc. Solomiya actively popularizes modern music. In her repertoire, she has works written especially for her, including: Violin Concerto by the American composer Eli Marshall, Suite for violin and brass band by John B. Gagex, Chamber Concerto for violin, trumpet and orchestra by David Jubay, Fantasia for violin and piano "Solo for Solomiya" by Bruce Adolphe, "Touch of an Angel" by Yevhen Stankovych, "Capriccio" by Bohdan Kryvopust, "Elegy" for string sextet by Alla Sirenko, "Episode from the life of a poet" and "War Trio" for trumpet, violin and piano by Oleksandr Shchetynskyi.
Solomiya Ivakhiv with the Lviv Virtuosi orchestra, Lviv National Philharmonic, 2014.
In 2019, Solomiya released two CDs. The first album contains two lesser-known Mendelssohn concertos: a double concerto for solo violin, solo piano and symphony orchestra; Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor. The second album includes double concertos for solo violin, solo piano and orchestra by Haydn and Humel. The first CD was produced by Brilliant Classics, the second by Centaur. These albums were recorded with the Slovak National Orchestra, pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi and conductor Teodor Kučar.
In February 2022, the CD "Poems and Rhapsody" was released. It was recorded by Solomiya Ivakhiv with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (conductor Volodymyr Sirenko) and cellist Sofi Shao, prepared by Centaur. In particular, the album includes "Carpathian Rhapsody" by Myroslav Skoryk, "Poem" by Anatoly Kos-Anatolskyi, "American Rhapsody" by the winner of the Grammy Awardand composer Kenneth Fuchs.
The albums are recognized as one of the best new releases on Spotify. Works were broadcast by NPR, Sirius XM, WRTI, WCLV, WFMT, international radio companies.
Popularization of Ukrainian music. Album "Road to Freedom"
Meeting with composer Yevhen Stankovych at the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2017.
Since 2010, Solomiya Ivakhiv heads the MOTHER Music Series of the Ukrainian Institute of America. Its main task is to popularize Ukrainian culture in the United States. Solomiya is active in social activities.
The musician's repertoire includes, in particular, works by Ukrainian composers: Myroslav Skoryk, Yevhen Stankovych, Valentin Sylvestrov, Ivan Karabyts, Bohdana Frolyak, Hanna Havrilets, Oleg Bezborodyk, Iryna Aleksiychuk, Zoltan Almashi, Leonid Grabovsky, Yulia Gomelska.
In 2016, violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv's CD "The Road to Freedom - 100 Years of Ukrainian New Classical Music" was released. Recorded by Grammy Award-winning producer Judy Sherman with NAXOS of America and Labor Records. The disc contains the best examples of postmodern, neo-romantic, expressionistic-modern and neo-folkloristic currents of Ukrainian music. These are the works of eight composers: Kosenko, Skoryk, Karabyts, Lyatoshinskyi, Shchetynskyi, Sylvestrov, Stankovych and Kryvopust, most of which were recorded professionally for the first time. The authors are significant because, contrary to the ideological pressure of the Soviet state, its instructions to create according to Soviet templates, they found their own voice and demonstrated a personal vision. The compact disc represents Ukraine in almost a century - from 1919 to 2014. It combines the cultures of different parts of Ukraine: Kryvopust from Zaporizhzhia, Sylvestrov from Kyiv, Shchetynskyi from Kharkiv, Karabytsy from Donbas, Lyatoshynskyi and Kosenko from Zhytomyr, Skoryk from Lviv, and Stankovych from Transcarpathia. Composer Bohdan Kryvopust motivated Solomiya Ivakhiv to record the disc. He was interested in her understanding of music — a combination of the culture of Ukraine and the Western world. NAXOS distributed the disc among 9 thousand libraries in the world. The project was included in the top five most interesting new albums on iTunes and received a silver award from the international competition Global Music Awards. During 2016, Solomiya performed works from this disc at concerts in Denver, Colorado Springs, Cambridge, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington among all-American audiences.
Awards and titles
Honored Artist of Ukraine (August 23, 2021) — for a significant personal contribution to state building, strengthening defense capabilities, socio-economic, scientific-technical, cultural-educational development of the Ukrainian state, significant labor achievements, many years of conscientious work and on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of independence of Ukraine
Award of the Institute named after Curtis "Distinguished Alumnus" (2019).
Silver medal at the Global Music Awards international competition for the album "Road to Freedom - 100 years of Ukrainian new classical music" (2016).
