Solomiya Ivakhiv

Professor of Violin and Viola, Coordinator of Strings

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D.M.A., Stony Brook University
M.M., M.Lysenko State Academy of Music, Ukraine
B.M., Curtis Institute of Music

“It’s not often that an audience gives a standing ovation after the first movement of a concerto,” but an impassioned performance by violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto “twice brought the audience to their feet.” – Times Herald-Record

“Ivakhiv’s performance had distinctive charm and subtle profundity…. She neither drives nor chases a score, she illuminates it.” – Daily Freeman, NY

“The performances are terrific…. A very desirable release”  — American Record Guide on the album Mendelssohn Concertos 

 

Ukrainian born Solomiya Ivakhiv is an accomplished concert violinist, chamber musician, collaborator, educator, and champion of new music. Concertizing internationally, her wide range of repertoire includes the premiere of numerous new works for violin.

Her solo album, Ukraine: Journey to Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano, was featured in the Top 5 New Classical Releases on the iTunes billboard.

Her albums Mendelssohn Concertos and Haydn and Hummel Concertos, both with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, conductor Theodor Kuchar, and the Slovak National Symphony, were featured in the Top Classical New Releases on Spotify. In addition, Mendelssohn Concertos was Album of the Week on WCLV (Cleveland, OH) as well as WFMT (Chicago, IL); Haydn and Hummel Concertos was broadcast nationwide on NPR stations.

Dr. Ivakhiv showcases the poetic and rhapsodic style of Ukrainian, American, British, and French composers on her soon-to-be-released album Poems and Rhapsodies. The album includes American Rhapsody, a lyrical romance for violin and orchestra portraying the beauty of the American landscape written by Grammy winning-composer and fellow UConn professor Kenneth Fuchs.

Her principal teachers include the late Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, Philip Setzer, Ani Kavafian, and the late Rafael Druian.

solomiyaivakhiv.com

PERFORMANCES

Dr. Ivakhiv has performed solo and chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, Curtis Institute Field Concert Hall, Italian Academy in New York City, Pickman Hall in Cambridge (MA), San Jose Chamber Music Society, Old First Concerts in San Francisco, Astoria Music Festival (Portland), Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, Concertgebouw Mirror Hall, and at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

She has made solo appearances with the Istanbul State Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Henderson Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China, the AACC, and the Bach Festival Orchestra.

Featured appearances at chamber music festivals include Tanglewood, The Embassy Series in Washington, Emerson Quartet Festival, Newport Music Festival, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Bach Festival of Philadelphia, The Banff Centre and Ottawa Chamberfest (Canada), Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France), Prussia Cove (England), Verbier Festival and Kammermusik Bodensee (Switzerland), AlpenKammerMusik (Austria), Modern Music “Contrasts,” and KyivFest (Ukraine).

A dedicated champion of new music, Dr. Ivakhiv has been privileged to premiere numerous new works for violin by composers Eli Marshall, David Ludwig, John B. Hedges, Bohdan Kryvopust, Yevhen Stankovych, Bruce Adolphe, David Dzubay, Leonid Hrabovsky, and Oleksandr Shchetynsky.

MASTER CLASSES AND COLLABORATIONS

A dedicated educator, Dr. Ivakhiv has conducted master classes and coached chamber music at Yale, Columbia, Penn State, the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Curtis SummerFest, the University of Maryland, Bard College Prep, SUNY – Fredonia, Oberlin, and Guangzhou and Hunan Conservatories (China). She regularly collaborates with high schools in outreach programs throughout the United States and is a member of the Connecticut Chapter  of the American String Teachers Association.

Highly sought after as a chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with such renowned artists as Roberto Diaz, Philip Setzer, Gilbert Kalish, Colin Carr, Marcy Rosen, and Eugene Drucker.

She has performed as a soloist with the symphonies of the University of Connecticut, Brown University, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Ohio University. She has performed twice as a soloist with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. At UConn, she has worked with Jeffrey Renshaw and the Wind Ensemble; David Mills and the marching band; and with Louis Hanzlik on a newly written chamber concerto for the Sackler Prize in Composition.

Dr. Ivakhiv is Artistic Director of the Ukrainian Institute’s Music at the Institute (MATI) Concert Series in New York City, a position she has held since 2010. She collaborates with other musicians regularly on the series.

RECORDINGS AND BROADCASTS

Dr. Ivakhiv’s debut solo album, Ukraine: Journey to Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano, recorded with pianist Angelina Gadeliya, was released on Labor Records (NAXOS) in 2016 and was featured in the Top 5 New Classical Releases on the iTunes billboard.  Fanfare Magazine noted that Dr. Ivakhiv performed with “superlative and consummate artistry” and that she “must be considered [one of the] major artists of our time.”

In 2019 and 2020, she released three recordings supported by grants from the University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts, Office of Global affairs, and Office of the Vice President for Research. These recordings feature works for violin and orchestra as well as violin and piano and orchestra; the featured pianist is Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and the orchestra for the first two recordings is the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Theodore Kuchar. The first of these albums, Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra; Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D Minor (Brilliant Classics 95733) features two rarely-heard early works by Mendelssohn. The second, Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Haydn and Hummel (Centaur), pairs works by Franz Joseph Haydn (Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Strings in F major, Hob. XVIII:6) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in G major, Op. 17). On the third recording, Poems and Rhapsodies (Centaur,), Dr. Ivakhiv is joined by the National Symphony of Ukraine, conducted by Volodymyr Sirenko, as well as cellist Sophie Shao, her UConn faculty colleague. This collection of works includes American Rhapsody by Grammy-award winning composer and UConn colleague Kenneth Fuchs, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Poème symphonique by Ernest Chausson, La Muse et le poète by Camille Saint-Saëns, Carpathian Rhapsody by Myroslav Skoryk, and Poème by Anatol Kos-Anatolsky.

 

In addition to these studio recordings, Dr. Ivakhiv’s performances are regularly broadcast on National Public Radio, Voice of America Radio, WFMT (Chicago), The Grand 101FM (Canada), New England Public Radio, KDFC (San Francisco), KING FM (Seattle), WETA (Washington, DC),  WRTI (Philadelphia, PA), WCLV (Cleveland, OH), WHRO (Norfolk), WHQR (Wilmington, NC), WXXI (Rochester, NY), WCPE (Raleigh/Durham, NC), WDAV (Davidson, NC), WUOT-FM (Knoxville), WWUH (Hartford), WWFM, Wisconsin Public Radio, KUNR, Ukrainian National Radio and Television, and Chinese Hunan Television.

 

AWARDS

2019 Alumni Excellence Award from the Curtis Institute of Music

Silver Medal, Global Music Awards, for Ukraine: Journey of Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano (2016)

University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts New Scholar Award 2016

Fritz Kreisler Gold Medal from the Curtis Institute of Music (2003)

Second Prize, Sergei Prokofiev Competition (2000)

Honorable and Mrs. Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen Fellowship (2001 Tanglewood Music Center)

Honored (Merited) Artist of Ukraine 2021