Igor Tkachenko
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Igor Tkachenko is a multifaceted composer, pianist, producer and recording artist. Tkachenko has authored numerous works in a variety of musical genres and is the winner of several prestigious compositional awards. Tkachenko tours internationally as a concert pianist, and is the producer of the critically acclaimed Interactive Classics Series of music games for children.
Tkachenko was raised in Odessa, on the Black Sea. His musical education as a child was among the best available in the world at the time. Blessed with perfect pitch, he was well grounded in music theory and analysis, counterpoint, composition, violin, piano, voice and various other subjects, with piano and composition emerging early on as clear winners.
At 16 Tkachenko relocated from the Soviet sea resort into the New York City of the Blizzard of 1978. American “serious music” scene was then dominated by postdodecaphonic dogmatists on the one side of boredom and by militant minimalists on the other. Meanwhile, the young arrival was absorbing the impact of Stravinsky, Miles Davis and Piazzolla, and exploring the ancient classical and courtly traditions of Indian, Middle Eastern and Medieval music.
Tkachenko is an accomplished and versatile composer in a wide array of styles and genres, including orchestral, vocal, film, chamber, multimedia and electronic music, with over a dozen published CDs and numerous commissioned works performed. His awards include the first prize at the Aspen Music Festival, Best Music at the FIFI International Internet Film Festival (France), and Prix Arthur Honegger (France). Tkachenko is a member of GEMA, the Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights since 1996.
Tkachenko is a virtuoso performance pianist who has toured internationally in the 1990s, appearing at Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, The St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Helsinki National Opera, Bank of Boston Celebrity Series, and numerous other major venues and festivals throughout Europe and the US. A serious hand injury has forced Tkachenko to leave the stage in 1999. Since then, Tkachenko has turned his attention to digital music production, with a large body of work produced in this medium. After a 5 year performing hiatus, Tkachenko is resuming his activities as a pianist, most notably with the Balmus ensemble.
He was the founder and artistic director of the 30-strong Cast of Characters international music ensemble, a major musical presence in Boston-Cambridge in the 1990s. Reviews of Cast of Characters performances have appeared in a number of publications, among them The Boston Globe and Boston Herald.
Tkachenko’s collaboration with Russian cellist/composer Victor Sobolenko produced the critically acclaimed Duo 21, which has released 7 CDs, among them: Passion, About the Strangeness of Love, Simple Pleasures and Around Tango. Duo 21 has performed at a number of major concert halls and festivals, including the Carnegie Recital Hall and Symphony Space in New York, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall (Russia), the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, and many others.
Other notable projects include collaborations with poet Philip Nikolayev, violinist Johannes Ammon ("Snow Music"), composer/pianist Jakov Jakoulov, filmmakers John Gianvito ("Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein") and Bridget Murnane ("The Black Boots"), choreographers Marcus Schulkind ("Of Bliss Submerged Beyond Appearance"), Martha Mason ("Movement in D Flat", "overneath", "Glory Hole"), Nicole Pierce ("The Ego Show"), and many others.
In 2006 Tkachenko has produced a series of 5 Relaxation Music CDs. His credits as arranger and session player include long-term collaborations with producer/engineer Ron St. Germain and albums by Keziah Jones, DropJoy, and Breed 77.
Over the last four years Tkachenko has produced the award-winning Interactive Classics series of unprecedented PC-based educational music games for children.
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[edit] Collaborations
- 21st Century Duo (Duo 21)
- Balmus Ensemble
- Cast of Characters
- Johannes Ammon (violinist)
- Philip Nikolayev
Martha Mason of Snappy Dance Theater, choreographed Movement in D'Flat (2001) to Tkachenko's composition of the same name. The piece was performed as part of the FleetBoston Celebrity Series' Boston Marquee series in 2004 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
[edit] Notable Appearances
- Carnegie Hall (New York, New York, US)
- Berlin Philharmonic (Berlin, Germany)
- St Petersburg Philharmonic (St Petersburg, Russia)
- Helsinki National Opera (Helsinki, Finland)
- The Celebrity Series (Boston, Massachusetts, US)
[edit] Discography
Tkachenko has released recordings in several genres, including: orchestral, chamber, choral, instrumental, electronic, film, theater and dance.
- Watertime (2006, Tigor Music)
- Nightbirds (2006, Tigor Music)
- Astrowaves - (2006, Tigor Music)
- Raindawn (2006, Tigor Music)
- Desertwind (2006, Tigor Music)
- Simple Pleasures (2006, Tigor Music)
- Around Tango, 2005, Tigor Music
- Passion, 2005, Tigor Music
- Numbers, 2005, Tigor Music
- The Long Road, 2003, Sable Song
- Snow Music, 1999, Sacral Records
- About The Strangeness of Love, 1998, JHS Records
- Coffee 21, 1997, JHS Records
- Excursion, 1996, JHS Records
- Acoustic Improvisations, 1995, JHS Records
- Vox Arcana Music Improvisations, 1993, Circle Records
