Earlier this year, UNH Professor Dr. Victor Markiw released a CD with Jennifer Litwin (The Litwin-Markiw Duo), performing the works of Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Fernando Obradors, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein, which received excellent reviews. An excerpt from a review by Oles Kuzyszyn sums up the experience this CD offers with the following sentence: “the duo handles all of these with intelligence and aplomb, treating us, the listeners, to superb interpretations of some of the best examples of art songs spanning the last two centuries.”
Considering the results of his musical venture with The Litwin-Markiw Duo, it is no surprise that his return as the author of the most significant English writings on Myroslav Skoryk is successful.
The book, titled The Life and Solo Piano Works of the Ukrainian Composer Myroslav Skoryk, begins with a biographical and stylistic view of Skoryk, and continues on to examine his complete solo piano works. Additionally, the book contains interviews with Skoryk, as well as expert analytical readings. Although it was only recently released, it is already becoming available in many of the top libraries across the country, including MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon.
When readers open the book, they are immediately greeted with the foreword, written by the Associate Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut, Professor Peter Kaminsky. In his foreword, Prof. Kaminsky explains, “The combination of Skoryk’s thoughts on his music with Professor Markiw’s biographical information, historical and stylistic insights, and expert analytical readings … provides an … informative and fascinating view of the composer … With the publication of this splendid study, Professor Markiw has taken an important step in securing Myroslav Skoryk’s rightful place in the pantheon of contemporary composers.”
Starting with The Litwin-Markiw Duo and continuing with this book, Professor Markiw consistently shows his love and passion for music. He received his D.M.A. at the University of Connecticut, his M.F.A. at the State University of New York at Purchase, and his B.M. at Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. He is a full time lecturer in the Department of Music and has taught at UNH since 1995. Classes he has taught include piano, music theory, music history, and he was formally the artistic director of the series “Concerts for All Ages.”
Professor Markiw’s CD, The Litwin-Markiw Duo, is now available at the UNH Bookstore as well as CD Baby, iTunes, Napster, and Amazon.com. The Life and Solo Piano Works of the Ukrainian Composer Myroslav Skoryk is available by order from Barnes & Noble and will soon be available in the UNH Library. In the meantime, inter library loan through the UNH library is an option.
