Cobar Arts Council will once again host world renowned concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky next month.
American-born with a Ukrainian background, Roman has performed all over the world in his long and memorable music career and has been a regular visitor to Cobar for the past 18 years.
Roman’s parents were both professional musicians with his father being a composer, pianist and conductor while his mother was an opera singer, and they ran a private music school.
A graduate of America’s foremost conservatory, the Juilliard School in New York, Roman began studying piano at age four and gave his first recital at age seven.
A prize winner of 10 international and national piano competitions, he has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras around the world.
Since 1984, Roman has played concerts and conducted masterclasses through the public diplomacy program of the US Embassies in 35 countries, as well as playing recitals on nearly 70 cruises for P&O and Cunard.
In 1993, Roman performed the Australian premiere of the then-recently-discovered Liszt Concerto No.3 in E Flat as a soloist with the SBS Youth Orchestra at Sydney Town Hall.
He has also taught music appreciation classes and said he found many people have a preconceived idea of what classical music performances are like.
“Many have stereotypical images of people in white tie and tails, which to them means boring. I’m much more informal when I play.
“Once I present the music and tell them a bit about what I’m playing, these images will be dispelled and I bet you in many cases people will say that they enjoyed the experience.”
Roman is Professor Emeritus of the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where he has served as a professor of piano and music for 39 years.
He has made 20 tours of Australia since 1979, visiting our shores every two years.
He has played in every Australian state, from the Sydney Opera House to many country and regional town towns.
This current tour has a total of 30 concerts spread across five months.
Roman encourages Cobar residents to come along to his concert at the Cobar Services Club and experience his style of classical music where he said the music he plays is very famous and audience members will be surprised with just how much classical music they are already familiar with, with works by Haydn, Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin and Liszt.
