When music concerts became the main form of public entertainment in Europe some 400+ years ago, the composer/pianist reigned supreme as the ultimate content creator. Konstantin Soukhovetski, pianist and composer (winner of over 17 awards and an adjunct faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School ), is one of the leading arrangers of popular music and opera. Join Konstantin for a unique insight into all aspects of transforming Broadway, pop, and film music for classical piano.
“Konstantin’s charming personality, interesting anecdotes, and mastery of ivories hold the audience in a trance…” - Dan’s Papers
Konstantin Soukhovetski is regarded as an original creative force among the pianists of his generation, in a concertizing career that has gained him audiences’ tributes and critics’ accolades in the US, Africa, Asia, and Europe. A recipient of over 17 awards and winner of top prizes at the Cleveland, Naumburg, and UNISA competitions, Konstantin has made his reputation applying his singular interpretive vision and natural virtuosity to the cornerstones of solo and concerto repertory, as confirmed by his renewed engagements and steady partnership with conductors. Konstantin is internationally acknowledged also as a composer, since the premiere of his transcription of R. Strauss’ Four Last Songs at L’Esprit du Piano festival in Bordeaux (France).
Some highlights of Konstantin’s career include critically acclaimed performances at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Paris’ Musee du Louvre, Bern’s Paul Klee Zentrum, Carnegie’s Weill, and Zankel halls. For his debut at Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall, Konstantin was praised on the NYTimes Arts Section cover: “Romanticism so intense it warms up Philip Glass.” The Independent gave 5 stars to Konstantin’s Wigmore Hall London debut, with a glowing review of Schubert’s last sonata: “…he let his vision take him where it would, and the result was revelatory, as was his handling of the sonata’s ambiguous close.”
In 2020, Konstantin joined the adjunct faculty of his alma mater, The Juilliard School, where he received his BM, MM, and AD with Jerome Lowenthal. Konstantin has been recently named Director of Pedagogy and Narrative Musicianship at Bronx School for Music. Konstantin is deeply committed to musical education, regularly teaching masterclasses, interactive lecture performances, and residency programs with the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras, the ACES Educational Center for the Arts (CT), and the Grand Piano Series (FL), among many others. Since 2011, Konstantin has served as Artist-in-Residency at Paul Schenly’s Pianofest in the Hamptons, of which he is an alumnus (2000-2007). Other teaching engagements have taken Konstantin traveling around the world to the Cincinnati College-Conservatory, The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), the Shantou Piano Museum (China), the New England Piano Teachers Association, and The Piano League, to name a few. Konstantin has served on the jury panel of the Piano Ohio Competition, the Hong Kong Music Schools Festival, the Perfect Tone competition in Indonesia and was on the screening jury of CIPC’s 2020 Virtu(al)oso International Piano Competition.
Konstantin’s creativity expands to innovative artistic projects that frequently involve modern dance. In 2022 Konstantin premiered Encounters, a commission by MorDance from Polina Nazaykinskaya, which involved him in the choreography while he was performing on the piano, the only music for the ballet. In April 2023, Konstantin premiers Ms. Nazaykinskaya’s new ballet Emily with MorDance. Konstantin and Polina’s creative alliance has produced a series of piano miniatures, released during the COVID-19 lockdown on OClassica label, available on all streaming platforms. (Remembrance, Anticipation, and A Summer Rain)
Konstantin’s solo violin composition, Postcard from The Edge, is featured on CDs of renowned violinist Elmira Darvarova. In 2022, Konstantin signed an exclusive publication deal with OE Oficina to publish all his opera transcriptions, as well as original compositions. The first volume, R. Strauss’ Four Last Songs, will be released in 2023. The second volume will feature The Pride Suite for solo piano commissioned by the ProtoStar Foundation, with multiple national and international premieres planned in the 2023/24 Season. Color Orange of The Pride Suite will have a pre-premiere performance as a choreographed art piece at Site Specific Dances’ New York launch of Live Exhibition series in April 2023.
In addition to piano performance and composition, Konstantin’s love for words and poetry has taken him on a foray into literature. He is currently working on two opera libretti commissioned by the Mississippi Opera and the Garth Newel Music Center.
Konstantin’s unique creativity and personality have been acknowledged with a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship For New Americans and an Innovation Award from the Music Academy Of The West.
