CODY ENGLANDER
Staff Writer
In his five weeks at Chautauqua Institution as a piano student, Max Artemenko finds inspiration everywhere.
“I’ve been inspired by every pianist,” he said. “I’ve been inspired from the first chords, from the first notes. I was like, ‘I will learn everything from them.’ You are learning something from them, like their way of playing, their relationship to this life.”
At 4 p.m. today in Sherwood-Marsh Studios, students in the Piano Program will present a series of music for one and two pianos in a farewell recital to Chautauqua. Nicola Melville, chair of the Chautauqua Piano Program, described the Play-Out Recital as a farewell to the community, with a mix of classical music and lighter pieces mixed in.
Artemenko, originally from Ukraine, first heard about Chautauqua from Alexander Kobrin, the Heintzelman Family Artistic Advisor for the Chautauqua Piano Program, though he originally began his musical journey as a choir student.
“I was singing, singing, singing, it was like my major,” Artemenko said. “Piano was like a minor. I knew how to press keys, but only in a treble clef.”
Eventually, he found an affinity for the piano through a professor’s recommendation.
“One professor from our conservatory came to me after my last exam day and asked if I wanted to start a formal practice,” Artemenko said. “I was 14 years old. I said, ‘Of course.’ She gave me a repertoire, and I learned bass clef, very low in the register.”
He began taking the instrument very seriously and has dreams of becoming a great pianist. Eventually, he ended up in Chautauqua Institution’s Piano Program, where he reunited with Kobrin, his instructor from the Lancaster program.
“I had a master class with Professor Kobrin,” Artemenko said. “He’s a magician. I will remember those two master classes for the rest of my life.”
Ahead of today’s performance, he said he plans to play a piece very familiar to him, which he plans on mastering when he gets back to London.
“I will play Rachmaninoff Op. 39 No. 1,” Artemenko said. “It’s very stormy, kind of like waves, or maybe a lake. It’s the middle section of this étude, like the middle of the night and you have no lights around. And, also, I have to play the same étude back in London, so it’s a nice practice run.”
While already having a master’s degree and multiple appearances at prestigious piano festivals, Artemenko still dreams of being a professional pianist.
“Musicians and pianists are different things. Maybe I’m already a musician, but I have not become a pianist yet,” Artemenko said. “… I know I will never be satisfied with my playing on stage. I know I’ll never say, ‘That was the best concert of my life.’ If I had that concert, I would stop being a pianist and musician.”
