After an exhilarating performance in 2016, virtuoso and one of the fastest pianists in the world Lubomyr Melnyk is returning to Šiška with a new album, which has been praised from all sides. The protégé of the esteemed Erased Tapes label is regarded as the pioneer of so-called “continuous music”, and he has taken his unique playing style around the world, including prestigious venues such as the Royal Festival Hall in London.
The album Fallen Trees, released in December and inspired by the musician’s journeys around Europe in recent years, has been described by Drowned In Sound as “a work of quiet – but nonetheless defiant – beauty from a true great of contemporary classical music”, by The Line of Best Fit as a “finely crafted, elegiac album”, and by PopMatters as “a thing of uncommon beauty “, to name but a few. In addition to collaborations with Japanese vocalist Hatis Noit, German cellist Anne Müller and American singer David Allred, all members of the Erased Tapes family, the album also features one of the most demanding compositions the piano magus has ever written, the titular Fallen Trees.
Lubomyr Melnyk is a true innovator, exploring new directions for contemporary music. Classically trained and greatly affected by the minimalist movement in the early 1970s, the Ukrainian pianist developed his own unique language for the piano, named after the principle of maintaining a continuous, unbroken stream of sound. Playing rapid and complex note patterns made Lubomyr one of the world’s fastest concert pianists. His virtuoso piano technique forms overtones that blend, collide or even create new melodies in rare moments, and thereby shape the composition beyond its original form.
Tickets on sale online and at Eventim outlets.
Organisation: Kataman, Radio Študent and Kino Šiška. The concert is part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Radio Študent.
