NEW PROVIDENCE —Wharton Music Center will celebrate its 2015 Playathon Music Fest Gala and Concert on Saturday, March 7 at the New Jersey Youth Symphony located at 570 Central Ave. in New Providence. The Gala will feature performances by violinist Yevgeny Kutik, pianist Lenore Davis, students of Wharton Music Center and New Jersey Youth Symphony, and pianist Petra Schemmann.
Tickets to the Gala, including hors d’oeuvres, dinner, concert, and after party are $250. Tickets are $75 for those who wish to attend the concert and after party only. Gala tickets are available by calling 908-790-0700 or online at www.WhartonMusicCenter.org.
The 2015 Gala guest artist and Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is also lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of both standard works and rarely heard repertoire.
The New York Times has commented on his “old-fashioned rhapsodic style…magnified by rich, sweet tone.” Kutik’s second album, Music from the Suitcase: A Collection of Russian Miniatures, which features music he found in his family’s suitcase after immigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1990, was released by Marquis Classics in early 2014 and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard classical chart.
Kutik made his debut in 2003 with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops as the 1st Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. He has since gone on to perform with orchestras in the United States and abroad.
Kutik’s current season is highlighted by engagements as guest soloist with the symphony orchestras of Baton Rouge, Lansing, New Bedford, New Haven and Topeka as well as New York City’s Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. His recital schedule includes two distinguished New York City series: Peoples’ Symphony Concerts and the Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall.
Kutik’s debut album, Sounds of Defiance, was released by Marquis Classics in February 2012 and features the music of Achron, Pärt, Schnittke, and Shostakovich performed with pianist Timothy Bozarth.
The album focuses on music written during the darkest periods of the lives of these composers. During the 2013-14 season, Kutik was featured soloist in Joseph Schwantner’s The Poet’s Hour – Soliloquy for Violin on episode six of Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra, a made-for-television classical music concert series released on DVD by Naxos and broadcast nationally on PBS.
A native of Minsk, Belarus, Kutik immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of five. Shortly thereafter he began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and went on to study with Zinaida Gilels, Shirley Givens, Roman Totenberg, and Donald Weilerstein. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and currently resides in Boston.