Theodore Kuchar es un director de orquesta ucraniano, nacido en 1960. Especializado en el repertorio estadounidense y soviético, ha realizado para el sello Naxos series de grabaciones dedicadas al sinfonismo de George Antheil, Lyatoshinsky, Walter Piston y Prokofiev, entre otros. Entre sus registros destaca una integral de las seis Sinfonías de Bohuslav Martinu, al frente de la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Ucrania, de la que es titular. Desde febrero de 2011 es titular de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela.
Concierto de Félix Mendelssohn para violín y orquesta mi-menor opus 64
En el currículo de Kuchar, figura la dirección de las orquestas Sinfónica de Ucrania y de la Filarmónica Janacek de Checoslovaquia, además de haber mantenido bajo su batuta a las sinfónicas de Berlín y Holanda y la Filarmónica de Nordwestdeusche, entre otras.
El Maestro Kuchar es una de las figuras más destellantes a nivel internacional en el ambiente musical sinfónico. Ucraniano de origen y violinista, cuenta con una trayectoria que incluye la dirección de la Orquesta Filarmónica Janácek (Praga), la dirección musical de la Filarmónica de Fresno (California) y la dirección del Festival de Música en Kent Blossom (Cleveland). Su arribo a Caracas en marzo pasado marca una gran diferencia en su apretada agenda internacional con 11 visitas pautadas este año a nuestro país y como él mismo lo ha dicho en varias oportunidades se siente orgulloso de formar parte del plantel de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, quien lo invitó a dirigirle, luego de haberlo contactado en varias oportunidades en años anteriores, quedando cautivo por el nivel de precisión de los ejecutantes venezolanos y su gran pasión por la expresión creativa. Para Kuchar, la OSV es una de las mejores orquestas sinfónicas de Sudamérica y es por ello que se ha motivado a buscarle oportunidades para llevar la bandera venezolana más allá de nuestras fronteras con proyectos como éste, donde destaque la gran pasión que le imprime la OSV a cada una de sus actividades como un concierto en vivo, una interpretación grabada o la puesta en marcha de proyectos como La OSV en mi escuela.
“Mi idea con la OSV es hacerle explorar esa emocionalidad al momento de hacer sonar sus instrumentos en piezas inéditas, que están por estrenar o que son muy poco conocidas, sobre todo las del repertorio latinoamericano. Como embajador de la OSV en esta ocasión, me siento honrado de cumplir con la grabación de este primer disco con Brilliant Classics: ya no es un sueño, es un plan concreto y estamos grabando”, reveló el maestro Kuchar, para quien importa mucho que la OSV asuma su rol como pionera del movimiento orquestal en Venezuela grabando a autores de gran relevancia Revueltas y Ginastera, entre otros por ejemplo, amén de los compositores nacionales, cuya música está estudiando actualmente
Carrera
- 1987- : Orquesta Filarmónica de Queensland, Director invitado.
- 1987-1993: West Australian Ballet, Director artístico.
- 1990- : Festival Australiano de Música de cámara, Director artístico.
- 1992- : Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Ucrania, Director titular.
- 1994- : Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Ucrania, Director artístico.
- 1996- : Orquesta Filarmónica de Boulder, Director artístico e invitado.
- 1996- : Sinfonía de Colorado, Director artístico e invitado.
- 1996- : University of Colorado's College of Music, Catedrático de estudios orquestales
Orquesta Sinfónica De Venezuela
graba para el sello internacional Brilliant Classics
La Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Patrimonio Artístico y Cultural de la Nación, la OSV, bajo la tutela artística del Maestro Theodore Kuchar, emprende una grabación muy especial para el sello de música clásica Brilliant Classics, de origen holandés, muy reconocido en el mundo entero por presentar un amplio catálogo de grabaciones de altísima calidad en todos los géneros de la música clásica a precios muy accesibles para el público. En esta oportunidad lo hace con todo el brillo y la expresividad de los grandes maestros latinoamericanos, para impactar al mercado europeo y demostrar por qué Venezuela es una potencia musical.
Theodore Kuchar: Biography
Theodore Kuchar, one of the most prolifically recorded conductors of the past decade, has recorded over 90 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine and Marco Polo labels. For the past fifteen years, he has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of two of Europe's important orchestras, the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Czech Radio Orchestra) and the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine. He presently also serves as Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Reno Chamber Orchestra in the United States. He is a frequent guest conductor with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and in February 2005 conducted a three-week tour of the United States with the Northwest German Philharmonic. During the past several seasons, guest conducting engagements have taken him to many major musical centers including Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Prague, Seoul and Sydney. His collaborations with major artists have included James Galway, Jessye Norman, Lynn Harrell, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich and Frederica von Stade, among others.
With the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005, Kuchar has recorded compact discs devoted to the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, and the complete overtures and tone poems of Dvorak. This past summer, Maestro Kuchar, in collaboration with the Janacek Philharmonic, completed a 3-cd recording of the orchestral works of Czech composer Bedrich Smetana for the Brilliant Classics label. Also completed for Brilliant Classics, was a world premiere recording of Rachmaninoff’s Fifth Piano Concerto, a reconstruction of that composer’s Second Symphony based on the composer’s manuscripts. With the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuchar has conducted tours of Australia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland, and in January and February of 2009 they will undertake a four week tour of the USA.
During his tenure with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine, Kuchar conducted complete symphony cycles by Bruckner and Schubert, and led eleven international tours to Asia, Australia, Central Europe and the United Kingdom. Under Mr. Kuchar’s direction, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine became the most frequently recorded orchestra of the former Soviet Union. Between 1994 and 2004 the orchestra recorded over 70 compact discs for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, including the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinu and Prokofiev, as well as major works of Dvorak, Glazunov, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. They also recorded the symphonies and orchestral works of Ukraine’s leading contemporary symphonist, Yevhen Stankovych. The recording of Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 was awarded ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994. Their recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston for the Naxos label was hailed by Gramophone (January, 2000) as a “Record of the Year” for 1999. The complete symphonies of Prokofiev are regarded by many critics as the most accomplished cycle available compact discs.
Kuchar remains as strong an advocate of composers of the present day as he does of the great composers of the past. In addition to his recordings of contemporary works with the NSO-Ukraine, he has also conducted music by Americans George Crumb, Lukas Foss, and Benjamin Lees, among others. In May, 2000, at the invitation of Yo-Yo Ma, Mr. Kuchar conducted the world premiere of Lukas Foss’s Capriccio for Cello and Orchestra, with Mr. Ma as soloist.
As a violist, Kuchar continues to devote several periods annually to one of his most serious passions, the performance of chamber music. Since 1991, he has served as Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music, an annual event regarded as the one of the more important chamber music festivals in the Southern Hemisphere. His colleagues have included James Buswell, Martin Chalifour, Sarah Chang, Leila Josefowicz, Truls Mork, Paul Neubauer, Irina Schnittke, and Thomas Zehetmair. In 1994, he participated with colleagues Oleh Krysa and Alexander Ivashkin in the world premiere of Penderecki’s String Trio in New York City. In July of 1999, he appeared as violist in two recordings for the Naxos label of works by Alfred Schnittke (with Irina Schnittke and Mark Lubotsky) and Walter Piston. The latter recording was awarded the Chamber Music America/WQXR “Record of the Year” for 2001.
During the 1996-97 season, Kuchar and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine undertook a project devoted to the performance of the cycle of complete symphonies of Anton Bruckner, in their original versions. This historic project, commemorating the centenary of Bruckner’s death, was sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the 1997-98 season, they undertook a cycle of the complete symphonies of Franz Schubert, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
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