Spencer Klymyshyn

Performers

Notes on the performers

Named by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation as one of Canada’s 30 top classical musicians under 30 and praised by International Piano Magazine for his “sensitive and cultivated handling” of melody, pianist Spencer Klymyshyn is known for his beautiful and nuanced sound. Spencer has won numerous awards and recognitions in national competitions. In 2023, Spencer placed 2nd at the Liszt Society International Piano Competition. In 2019, Spencer was the national winner at the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals (FCMF) National Music Competition. He was also, in both 2017 and 2018, a national first place award winner at the Canadian Music Competition. Spencer is the recipient of the Dasha Shenkman Award from the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund for 2023-2024.

Spencer is a scholarship student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK, where he is working with Ronan O’Hora, Martin Roscoe and Charles Owen in pursuit of his Artist Diploma. He recently completed his Artist Masters in Performance with Distinction and a Concert Recital Diploma. He is a graduate of the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, where he completed his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance with Distinction, studying with Dr. Ilya Poletaev. Spencer holds an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Spencer will represent the Americas at the 2024 Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey (broadcast live on BBC One, BBC World and BBC Youtube on March 11th, 2024), performing in the presence of senior members of the Royal Family, as well as diplomats and politicians from across the Commonwealth, in a event bringing together over 2,000 individuals from around the world. In February 2024, Spencer was heard on BBC Radio 3 performing a UK premiere in the BBC Symphony Orchestra Total Immersion Day showcasing the works of Missy Mazzoli. In 2023, Spencer was a semi-finalist in the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) international competition and was selected to compete in the Overseas Awards where he was the winner of a special award and scholarship for an Outstanding Canadian Musician. In addition, Spencer was the grand award winner of the Romantic Piano Prize at the Guildhall School.

Spencer has participated in masterclasses with Dame Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, André Laplante, John Perry, Hie-Yon Choi, Paul Roberts and many others. He has also had the pleasure of working with Boris Berman, Robert McDonald, Jacques Rouvier, Boris Slutsky, Anton Nel and more. As a chamber musician and collaborative pianist Spencer has enjoyed working with coaches Julius Drake, Ralph de Souza (Endellion Quartet), Michael McMahon, Ralph Gothoni, Carole Presland, Matthew Jones, Marie-Ève Scarfone, and Maestro Alexis Hauser.

In April 2022, Spencer completed a tour with the Symphony New Brunswick performing the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, New Brunswick under the baton of Holly Mathieson.

In the summer of 2022, Spencer performed three recitals at The International Holland Music Sessions (TIHMS) in Bergen, Alkmaar, and Enkhuizen where he also studied with Boris Berman, Jacques Rouvier and Boris Slutsky. As well, in July he enjoyed studying with Paul Roberts, Charles Owen and James Kreiling at the Music at Chateau d’Aix summer school in Saux, France.

Spencer is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and various arts organizations. Spencer is the holder of an Ian Fleming Instrumentalist Award from Help Musicians. He is also generously supported by the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund, the Lemford Foundation, Talent Unlimited, The Worshipful Company of Carmen Benevolent Trust and the Kiwanis Music Festival Senior Scholarship Program.

Programme

Programme notes

Franz Liszt

Sonetto 104 del petrarca

Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) (S.160, S.161, S.162, S.163) is a set of three suites for solo piano by Franz Liszt. Sonetto 104 forms part of the “Deuxième année: Italie” (“Second Year: Italy”), S.161 and was composed between 1837 and 1849 and published in 1858 by Schott. Nos. 4 to 6 are revisions of Tre sonetti del Petrarca (Three sonnets of Petrarch), which was composed around 1839–1846 and published in 1846.

Source: Wikipedia

Frédéric Chopin

Nocturne Op. 48 No.1

The Nocturnes, Op. 48 are a set of two nocturnes for solo piano written by Frédéric Chopin in 1841 and published the following year in 1842. They are dedicated to Mlle. Laure Duperré.

The Nocturne in C minor is one of the more well known nocturnes, and has been categorized as one of Chopin’s greatest emotional achievements. Theodor Kullak said of the piece, “the design and poetic contents of this nocturne make it the most important one that Chopin created; the chief subject is a masterly expression of a great powerful grief.”

Source: Wikipedia

Aaron Copland

Piano variations

The Piano Variations of American composer Aaron Copland were written for piano solo from January to October 1930. They were dedicated to American writer and literary critic Gerald Sykes (c. 1904–1984), and were originally published in 1932 by Cos Cob Press, which merged with Arrow Music Press in 1938 and was taken over by Boosey & Hawkes in 1956.

Source: Wikipedia

Samuel Barber

Excursions Op. 20

1. Un poco allegro
2. In slow blues tempo
3. Allegretto
4. Exuberant and joyous barn dance

According to Barber “These are ‘Excursions’ in small classical forms into regional American idioms. Their rhythmic characteristics, as well as their source in folk material and their scoring, reminiscent of local instruments are easily recognized.”

Source: Wikipedia

Liszt

Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by Franz Liszt at Woronińce (Voronivtsi, the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt’s mistress Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, as was Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes.

Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is the third of ten compositions.

Source: Wikipedia