ORF Kärnten — an evening with pianist Viktor Pelepchuk

ORF Kärnten — Musik im Land — an evening with pianist Viktor Pelepchuk

A fireside conversation and piano music

Town twinning seeks to promote understanding, tolerance and peace, bringing people from different countries together. On the first Monday of Advent, Radio Kärnten’s concert programme presents a fireside conversation accompanied by piano music with a 23-year-old pianist whose musical path was shaped by a twinning partnership.

From Czernowitz to Klagenfurt
Since 1992, Czernowitz in western Ukraine has been one of Klagenfurt’s 17 partner cities. Viktor Pelepchuk was born there in 2000. Growing up in a musical family that also runs a recording studio, he showed musical talent early. He chose the piano, entered Ukraine’s national support programme for gifted children, and won national and international competitions. Unlike many people who have fled Ukraine since the outbreak of war, Pelepchuk decided to move to Klagenfurt in 2016, aged 15 — and stayed. He recently completed his piano studies in Klagenfurt with distinction. He loves performing as a solo pianist, and is equally familiar with “the other side of the microphone” through his work as a sound engineer.

A special solo evening at the ORF Theatre
On 4 November 2024, Pelepchuk gives a solo recital at the ORF Theatre in Klagenfurt, where he normally works as a freelance sound technician at the regional studio, positioning microphones for other musicians. His colleagues are in the audience, as is regional director Karin Bernhard, who once studied piano herself and is deeply impressed. People work together, sometimes a little alongside one another, yet few colleagues knew this side of Pelepchuk: the classical solo pianist who also works as a sound technician and production assistant.

Viktor Pelepchuk in conversation
Beethoven’s music is particularly close to Pelepchuk’s heart. He opens his recital with the 32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor, followed by Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13. In his fireside conversation with Christine Pleschberger, he explains why Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26, is also on the programme and describes the inner image that arises when he interprets Beethoven. The conversation becomes personal: the young pianist speaks about his special bond with his grandfather, the welcome he received in Carinthia, and why he feels at home here and wishes to stay. He also discusses the pain of being unable to visit his family in Ukraine at present and the consequences of attempting to do so. His piano playing accompanies the conversation; listeners hear the live recording of this solo recital at the ORF Theatre in Klagenfurt.

— ORF Kärnten · translated from German