On October 25, the piano duo Chipak and Kushnir will conclude this year's Chamber Music Days at the Kunsthalle Kühlungsborn.
"...they play as freely and individually as you never hear from piano duos, which are always trimmed to perfection. Nevertheless, Chipak and Kushnir sound like one big grand piano. Magnificent."Süddeutsche Zeitung
Olha Chipak and Oleksiy Kushnir began their collaboration while still students at the Academy of Music in Lviv (Lemberg) and completed their piano duo studies (concert exam) at the HMT Rostock (class of Prof. Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl) with distinction.
Today, as a piano duo, they are one of the most renowned ensembles
of the chamber music scene. Their establishment on the international stage
not least thanks to their many successes at important international competitions:
1st prize and special prize for contemporary music - "Rome-98"
2nd prize - TIM (Torneo Internazionale di Musica) (2000)
2nd prize - Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta (2000)
1st prize - "Premio Seiler" in Palermo (2002)
2nd prize - "Palma d'Oro" in Finale Ligure (2002)
1st prize and special prize for best interpretation of W. Lutoslawski -
Piano Duo Competition in Bialystok (Poland) (2002)
1st Prize - "Piano Duo in 20th Century" (Premio Valentino Bucchi) (2003)
2nd Prize and Audience Prize - Piano Duo Competition "Dranoff Two Piano
Competition" in Miami (2003)
1st prize and special prize for contemporary music - San Marino
Piano Competition (2006)
Many concert tours followed - in the Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Denmark, USA, Russia, China, among others in the Konzerthaus Berlin, in the Sala Baldini in Rome, in the Glasunow Hall in St. Petersburg, in the Great Hall of the Warsaw Chopin Academy, in the
National Philharmonic Hall in Kiev, Steinway Hall and the Lincoln Theater and New World Center in Miami, and the Teatro Verdi in Trieste.
In 2007 their CD with piano duo works by J. Brahms, M. Reger and
S. Rachmaninov (ZMS Records), which won the Web Concert Hall Competition in 2012. "Large-scale cycles suit the nature of the Ukrainian piano duo, because they have the grandeur to give such works their contours. In clear lineatures and transparency of polyphony ... with much subtlety in unrestrained lyrical pathos..."Piano NewsJune/July 2009
In 2011, GENUIN released the next production with the most important piano duo works by Johannes Brahms. The CD received much acclaim in the German trade press and was nominated for the "ECHO-Klassik" music prize in 2012.
"Brahms is very much to the Ukrainian piano duo's taste. They explore the richness of his expressive possibilities in the best possible way."Pizzicato 3/2012
In 2014, GENUIN released the CD recording "Masques" with works by I. Stravinsky, M. Ravel, A. Chasins, F. Liszt, S. Rachmaninov and others.
"The Ukrainian piano duo Olha Chipak and Oleksiy Kushnir are unsurpassable in sheer virtuosity and the creation of colors. (...) virtuosic, but also delicate. Incomparable!"Wiener Zeitung 17.07.14
"...as a particularly brilliant ensemble that not only masters the music technically flawlessly, but is also able to shape it confidently from this mastery..." "This wonderful CD takes us back to one of the legitimate roots of music: the pure joy of making music together - regardless of losses, so to speak. Bravo!"Pizzicato 31.05.14, Piano News 3/2014
Their concerts and recordings have attracted attention from broadcasters such as ARD, NDR, BR-Klassik, HR, ORF1 as well as radio and television in Ukraine, Poland, China and San Marino.
They are currently lecturers for piano and piano duo at the Rostock University of Music and Drama and lecturers for piano duo at the Music Academy in Lviv (Ukraine).
