Ukrainian-born concert pianist GéNIA comes from a legendary musical pedigree–she is the great-granddaughter of iconic pianist Vladimir Horowitz. In March, her recording of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Piano Book No. 1 was released on the composer’s label NONClassical. The history of the recording goes back to the early ‘00s, when the pianist asked Prokofiev to write her a piece for an upcoming solo concert; pleased with the results, they agreed to expand it into a book. It was more than a year later that Gabriel learned that GéNIA was the great-great-granddaughter of Vladmir Horowitz – who made the premiere recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 in 1945.
On July 21, at 7:30 PM, GéNIA–along with composer Gabriel Prokofiev, and percussionist Joby Burgess (Powerplant)–will perform at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge . Other performances are scheduled for July 23 at Baltimore’s The Windup Space, and in Philadelphia on July 24th at the Crane Arts Centre.
Recently, GéNIA shared some thoughts about music with me:
The journey….
I have been trained as a classical pianist from the age of four. The classical upbringing I received in Ukraine was very traditional and included hours of practice, numerous performance opportunities and an impetus on constant improvement. My tremendous love for music meant making sacrifices in other areas of my life that I was always fond of.
My rebellious nature combined with such an intensive approach to music would have pushed me away from this classical upbringing if it were not for my great-grandmother Regina Horowitz. Regina was an exceptionally talented pianist, pedagogue and amazing musician. Her approach to music was very creative, combining professional standards with innovative thinking. My lessons with her were always inspirational and as a consequence of this, piano playing became a regular part of my daily lifestyle.
When I was 8, I developed a keen interest in ballet, and after a few months of training my parents were told to encourage me to focus on one discipline, music or ballet. My parents chose music. Then, at the age of 15 I was very fond of theatre, alas, I was confronted with the same issue and somehow I always came back to music. Music-making itself was so “normal” to me, and although it was exciting and often challenging, it had a familiarity that I found comforting. This comfort could not mask the drive I had to discover something else, something for myself. The famous Pablo Picasso quote “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it” best encapsulates this way of thinking.
My third big passion in life emerged whilst I was studying at the Kharkov Institute of Arts. I started writing for a local newspaper and embarked on a journalistic career. I loved it and would have considered working in this field alongside playing the piano, but I was presented with an opportunity to come to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Being in London completely blew my mind and as a result allowed me to focus intensely on my performance career. After a few years following traditional classical routes, I again started feeling the desire to move towards something else. This time it was contemporary music and a few years later, Yoga. These two interests developed simultaneously and I began to release a number of classical contemporary music recordings on the Black Box and Nonclassical Labels.
As a result of my practice in contemporary music and yoga, I developed a system of piano playing called Piano-Yoga, publishing my first book of exercises in 2009. Whilst doing this I began to compose, working with various producers from the dance scene and became a qualified yoga teacher. My life was full of eclectic creative projects which all seemed to take me away from the traditional classical music scene.
However, after a time of being involved in the usual classical circles I started to feel a pang of nostalgia, wondering if it was time to start playing classical repertoire again. It was around this time that I met Gabriel Prokofiev.
Aside from his music and personality, what impressed me the most about Gabriel was that he also came from the classical music background, which he rejected during some part of his adult life. He too decided to come back to it. I could not help but notice that he was going through similar life circles to me.
I commissioned Gabriel to write a piano piece for one of my concerts and what he came up with landed “in my hands” with the total ease. We were both pleased with the results and Gabriel suggested that he would write a set of classical piano compositions for me, I eagerly agreed.
The current Piano Book No 1 is a manifestation of this collaboration. This was a journey of experimenting in the studio, performing live and recording. We wanted to create something that would bring us both back to our roots. We were very particular with all aspects of the album, including the sound production. We wanted to create an intimate sounding piano album that connected to the classical recordings of the past. This led to 88.2k digital recording of a hand-picked Steinway D-Series piano which was then mastered through analogue tape and vintage valve equipment, without compression.
We were also very grateful to Steinway, who provided the best piano for us to use for the recording. They simply asked me what sound I was looking for and after my description they offered me a choice of five pianos. Feeling like a child in a toy shop I picked the one that I fell in love with.
The first piece Gabriel wrote for me in May 2005 was entitled “Sketch”. It later went on to be the first piece on our album “Piano Book No. 1”. The album, released on Nonclassical, is available in the USA and is due for release in September 2010 in the UK. I am very excited about performing this music in the USA.
These days I strive to combine my three passions holistically. My next 3 big projects include a recording of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Sonata, publishing the next Piano-Yoga book and releasing a CD of my own piano improvisations.
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