Another Ukrainian musician who has caught my attention lives in the USA. While I can’t say her
music is my favorite, being very modern, I am impressed by her work and
dedication to her country. Being from Kharkiv, Ukraine, pianist NADIA
SHPACHENKO was shocked to see the destruction of her home and the massacre
of her people.
But she still has many friends in Ukraine, so when invasion took place on her birthday in February 2022, she began coloring her hair purple with gold streaks, the colors of her country’s flag. Her city was close to Russia hence she grew up speaking Russian. Only now is she learning Ukrainian. Her father still lives in the Ukraine, refusing to leave. He is helping her daily, via internet, to learn the language and she watches Ukrainian TV as well.
Nadia completed her DMA and MM degrees at the University of Southern California, where she was awarded the title of Outstanding Graduate. Her principal teachers included John Perry, Victor Rosenbaum, and Victor Derevianko. She is a Steinway Artist and professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona University.
Her specialty is
premiering, performing, recording, and promoting music by living composers.
Much of it was written specifically for her. She has mainly worked with
composers in the US, but since the war she is focusing as well on Ukrainian
composers.
“I
love sharing my imagination and ideas with composers and hearing their feedback
as I learn their pieces, and then bringing their works to life for the first
time and sharing them with audiences. I strongly believe that this is a very
important task for performers—to promote newly-written music. This helps keep
classical music alive, exciting, and relevant, and will leave repertoire for
future generations to play.”
On my birthday in February 2022, the war started, Lewis Spratlan began writing Invasion, and the character of our plan for a CD of his works shifted. Positivity, defiance, perseverance, peace, nostalgia, recollections, and hope – all are displayed by the people in Ukraine, and all are reflected in the pieces on this disk. Even as all of us are comforted by timeless beauty, we are periodically reminded of the tragedy of the present. I commissioned Ukrainian artists to create paintings/artworks to use in this booklet and in the accompanying music videos, as their responses to the music. Also featured are drawings/artworks made by children in Kharkiv, as their responses to the war. Proceeds from this album will be donated to Ukraine humanitarian aid organizations. –Nadia Shpachenko
When asked how people can help support those in Ukraine, Nadia said “to promote Ukrainian culture through the arts.” I certainly have tried through this Blog since the war started, as well as the prayers of all in the monastery on our small Salish Sea island.