Vadym Kholodenko (born 4 September 1986, Kyiv) is a pianist from Kyiv.
Biography.
Graduated from the Lysenko Kyiv Special Music School (class of N. Hrydneva), continued his studies at the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (class of B. Fedorov). From 2005 to 2010 he was a student, from 2010 to 2013 he was a postgraduate student at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire in the class of Professor St. V. Hornostayeva, under whom he worked as an assistant.
He is a scholarship holder of the V. Spivakov, M. Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, and Russian Performing Arts foundations, and a winner of the Triumph Youth Prize (2004).
Prizes at international competitions
1998 - Vladimir Krainev International Competition for Young Pianists (III prize); 1999 - International Competition for Young Pianists in memory of Vladimir Horowitz (II prize); 2000 - Prokofiev International Youth Piano Competition in St. Petersburg. Prokofiev International Youth Piano Competition in St. Petersburg (III prize); 2001 - Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest (III prize and bronze medal); 2004 - Maria Callas International Piano Competition in Athens (Grand Prix); 2006 - Gina Bacher International Piano Competition in Solon, Switzerland (Grand Prix). Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (III prize); 2008 - International Piano Competition of the Republic of San Marino (II prize in the category "Best Duet", together with Andriy Gugnin); 2010 - Sendai International Music Competition (I prize); 2011 - International Schubert Competition in Dortmund (Germany). Schubert International Competition in Dortmund (I prize); 2012 - Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona (III prize); 2013 - Van Cliburn Piano Competition (I prize and gold medal).
Concert activity
Vadym Kholodenko gives many concerts as a soloist, ensemble artist, and accompanied by symphony orchestras. He has performed in Ukraine, Russia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Germany, Greece, Italy, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, the USA, Israel, and China. He has recordings on Hungarian and Greek radio. Stefan Kholodenko took part in the Music Olympus (2005), Baltic Seasons (2007) festivals, and the Steinway Parade project at the Moscow International House of Music (2009, in a duet with A. Gugnin).
He has recorded a number of discs including works by Schubert, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Metner. In 2007, Vadym Kholodenko and Andriy Gugnin created a piano duo called "iDuo". In 2008, they won 2nd prize at the San Marino Competition, one of the most prestigious competitions for piano ensembles. In 2010, the duo recorded a disc (Delos label).
Since 2004, Kholodenko has been constantly collaborating with the New Russia Orchestra (artistic director - Yuri Bashmet, conductors - E. Bushkov, C. Vandelli). He has also performed with the GASO under the direction of M. Gorenstein, the Symphony Orchestra of the State Chapel of St. Petersburg led by V. Chernushenko, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine (conductors N. Diadiura, T. Komatsu), the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (conductor V. Sirenko), the Danubia Youth Symphony Orchestra (conducted by G. Bizanti), the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (conducted by T. Vásáry, A. Ligeti), the Szeged Symphony Orchestra (conducted by F. von Sita-Fricai), the Iași Symphony Orchestra (Romania, conducted by R. Costin) and many others.
Creative characteristics
V. Kholodenko's repertoire is wide: from Baroque music to works by contemporary authors. A prominent place in the repertoire is occupied by the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
V. Kholodenko is the author of piano arrangements of Rachmaninoff's romances Melody and The Pied Piper and the chorus Belititsy, Rumyanytsy from the cycle Three Russian Songs for Chorus and Orchestra. He is fond of jazz improvisation and is the author of a transcription of the British rock band Radiohead's themes entitled I will never hear Radiohead in Moscow.
Personal life.
In November 2015, he filed for divorce. On 17 March 2016, in his home in Benbrook, Texas, Kholodenko found his two daughters, Nika Kholodenko, 5, and Michaela Kholodenko, 1, murdered. Their 31-year-old mother, Sofia Tsygankova, who holds Russian citizenship, is charged with murder
