Marko Topchiy (Topchiy Marko Yuriyovych, 7 January 1991, Kyiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian guitarist, multiple winner of national and international competitions. Marko Topchiy has already won 90 awards at various professional international guitar competitions. Marko is constantly touring, and his concerts have been a great success in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, and India. The guitarist performs solo and accompanied by symphony orchestras. On foreign posters, his name and surname are often written as follows: Marko Topchii.
Marko Topchii was born into a family of musicians Natalia (composer, pianist) and Yurii (arranger) Topchii. He started learning to play the classical guitar at the age of four, first under the guidance of Volodymyr Homeniuk and later Boris Belsky. In March 2001, at the age of 10, Marko made his debut at his first festival - the Valeriy Petrenko All-Ukrainian Guitar Competition - and has not stopped performing and competing since then. While studying at school, he participated in and repeatedly won numerous festivals and competitions both in Ukraine and abroad.
In 2004, Marko Topchiy became the winner in the older age group (13-16 years old) of the second Kyiv Children's Music Festival "Golden Seeds of Ukraine", organised by the Ukrainian Foundation for Classical Musical Instruments, and in 2007 he won the title of laureate of this festival, which has become international, for the second time. He was the winner of the International Children and Youth Music Competition "Silver Bell" in Uzhhorod (Ukraine, 2004-2005). In December 2005, Marko Topchiy won the first prize (in the age group of 11-15 years) at the 12th competition of the annual International Guitar Renaissance 2005 Festival held in Gomel (Belarus) and the International Guitar Virtuosos Competition in St. Petersburg (Russia, 2005). In 2006, he won first prizes at the First Sokolovsky International Classical Guitar Competition and Festival in Kyiv (Ukraine) and the International Guitar Competition and Festival "Dnipro Constellations" in Ukrainka (Kyiv region, Ukraine), as well as the third prize at the International Guitar Festival in Szeged (Hungary, 2006).
Marko Topchiy took masterclasses with Y. Fomin, N. Marunych, O. Galuzevska, A. Desiderio, C. Marcione, J. Perua, D. Russell, and M. Dilla. After graduating from the music school, he completed his master's degree at the Ivan Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts in the guitar class of Professor Volodymyr Dotsenko, Honoured Artist of Ukraine. Later, he was an assistant trainee at the Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy, in the class of Honoured Artist of Ukraine, Professor Yuriy Aleksyk.
Marko performs extensively both in Ukraine and abroad. His playing has been heard in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the USA, Mexico, and Japan. He performs both solo and with symphony orchestras.
On 28 February 2015, for the fourth time, he performed a solo concert of guitar music on the stage of the Mykola Lysenko Column Hall of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, where he was first invited to give a concert at the age of 18.
In May 2015, Marko Topchiy, a 24-year-old Ukrainian, took first place at the Gredos San Diego international guitar competition in the Spanish capital of Madrid, beating out rivals from Korea and Japan, who took second and third place. This is Marko's 25th victory, his anniversary. He came to Madrid for the competition from New York, where he performed at Carnegie Hall on 30 April. After the concert (24 May) in Germany, he travelled back to the United States to take part in the Parkening International Guitar Competition, one of the most prestigious guitar competitions in the United States and around the world.
In 2016, Marko Topchiy once again won the prestigious Maurizio Biasini International Guitar Competition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, significantly outperforming the other participants. The well-known music reviewer Blair Jackson stated that
"Joaquin Rodrigo's performance of the Aranjue Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra put the Ukrainian artist head and shoulders above his two closest rivals.
Mark Topchiy's competition performance can be viewed on the video in the time interval from 01:03:30 to 01:42:20 and from 03:37:20 to
03:43:43.
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg External video files
Videos by Marko Topčii
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Marko Topchiy on YouTube
Many of Marko Topchiy's videos are available on his official YouTube channel.
Marko Topchiy is an official artist of D'Addario, an American manufacturer of strings for musical instruments and accessories, mainly for guitars.
He is a scholarship holder of the Leonid Kuchma Presidential Foundation "Ukraine".
Competition wins
Marko Topchiy has won numerous awards in international classical guitar competitions in the professional category in various countries around the world and has been awarded (as of December 2017):
Since 2007, Ukrainian guitarist Marko Topchiy has won first prize in four dozen international competitions, the most famous of which are:
1st International Guitar Music Festival "Kyiv" in Kyiv, (Ukraine, 2007)
3rd International Guitar Competition "Dnipro Constellations" in Ukrainka, (Ukraine, 2008)
3rd International Guitar Art Competition "GitAs" in Kyiv, (Ukraine, 2009)
6th Enrico Mercatali European Classical Guitar Competition in Gorizia, (Italy, 2009)
3rd International Guitar Competition and Festival in Heinsberg, (Germany, 2009)
18th International Guitar Competition in Mottola, (Italy, 2010)
12th Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade, (Serbia, 2011)
12th Ville d'Antony International Guitar Competition in Antony, (France, 2011)
6th Ligita International Guitar Competition in Eschen, (Liechtenstein, 2011)
13th International Guitar Competition in Cernansel, (Portugal, 2011)
3rd Robert Vidal International Guitar Competition in Barbèsier, France (2011)
4th Ferdinand Carulli International Guitar Competition in Rome, (Italy, 2012)
5th International Claxica Competition in Castel d'Aiano, (Italy, 2013)
1st International Victor Pellegrini Competition in Lausanne, Switzerland (2013)
42nd Fernando Sor International Guitar Competition in Rome, (Italy, 2013)
6th Guitarra Culiacán International Guitar Competition in Culiacán, Mexico (2013)
12th Annual Dallas Guitar Competition and Festival, (USA, 2013)
56th International Competition in Tokyo, (Japan, 2013)
1st Jakarta International Guitar Festival and Competition, (Indonesia, 2014)
7th International Guitar Competition "Ruggiero Chiesa - Citta di Camogli", (Italy, 2014)
3rd Changsha International Guitar Festival, (China, 2014)
6th Taipei International Guitar Competition, (Taiwan, 2014)
6th Joan Falletta International Guitar Competition in Buffalo, (USA, 2014)
5th International Guitar Competition Gredos San Diego in Madrid, (Spain, 2015)
3rd Maurizio Biasini International Guitar Competition in San Francisco, (USA, 2016)
50th Michele Pittaluga International Classical Guitar Competition in Vezzano, Italy (2017)
International Guitar Competition in Budapest, (Hungary, 2017)
