UKRAINIAN and Russian pianists will share a stage in Leamington next week.
The Ukrainian pianist Sasha Grynyuk and Russian pianist Roman Kosyakov will perform at the Pump Rooms on Monday (May 2) in the final concert of the 2022 Leamington Music Festival.
Sasha is a last minute replacement for another Russian pianist, Andrey Gugnin, who failed to obtain a visa.
Festival director Richard Phillips explained: “We hoped to honour our invitation to Andrey, particularly as many of those who heard him in 2019 kept asking when he would be back. “We know he went to the British Embassy in Zagreb, where he lives, to get the necessary visa two months ago and had all the relevant papers, including our invitation. There appears to be a big backlog and the Embassy does not see this engagement as a priority. It is very disappointing.
“It is challenging too, but we have come up with a last-minute solution which we hope will resonate in the current political turmoil. We have invited two pianists to give the concert together – one Ukrainian and one Russian.”
Sasha was born in Kyiv and completed his studies at the Guildhall of Music and Drama in London. He has won many international prizes and performed in major concert halls, including London, Vienna, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
Roman, who has been finishing his studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire,was a joint winner of the Leamington Music Prize in 2018. He gave a well-received lunchtime concert during the Leamington Music Festival Weekend last September.
The programme the two have put together is a mixture of solo pieces and duets covering a range of composers including Liszt, Mozart, Prokofiev, Schubert, and Dvořák.
Visit www.leamingtonmusic.org for full festival details.
A FUND-RAISING concert for Ukraine is being held in Leamington on Friday May 6.
Local musicians and singers will be performing at St Mark’s Church on Rugby Road from 7.30pm.
Among those taking part are Leamington Sinfonia, classical quartet Anything Goes, Senza Nome Polish Community Choir and singer-songwriter Phil Overton.
Tickets are available priced £12 (£6 concessions) via www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/concert-for-ukraine-tickets
