WHO IS THE JULY/AUGUST CHILD?

Accepting her prize from the Queen Mother, with a left hand she would later have to re-train, this little girl made her debut as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in the same year. In 1974, she had decided to go to law school when she won the first Artur Rubinstein competition in Israel.

“A born Chopin interpreter”

—Rubinstein

Think you know who our mystery child is? Send your best guess tomusicschildren@thewholenote.com. Please provide your mailing address just in case your name is drawn! Winners will be selected by random draw among correct replies received by August 20, 2010.

June’s Child Andrew Burashko

There are several doors though which a child may enter the world of music. Sometimes it’s rhythm, sometimes it’s melody, or harmony. Sometimes it’s the mysterious alchemy of the drama inherent in music.

The story of Andrew Burashko’s musical life, in very broad strokes, begins as a little 5-year boy in Moscow unwillingly pushed to begin learning the piano. It continues as a man whose successful career as a solo pianist coexists with his extraordinary drive as a collaborator, and whose work still honours that little boy who was so engaged by the Nutcracker and its story .

Since 1998, as the Artistic Director of the Art of Time Ensemble, Burashko has brought highly skilled classical, post-classical, jazz and popular musicians together onstage in dance and language-based performances that challenge the way many of us have defined “chamber music,” enticing diverse audiences to engage in the music, sometimes even in spite of themselves. In recent programmes the ensemble has been joined by Peggy Baker, Sarah Slean, Tom McCamus, Ted Dykstra, Michael Ondaatje and Steven Page.

Other musical adults in your family?

My mother was a choral conductor and solfegio teacher. She was out of the house most of the time working. Her mother was a pianist but I never knew her. I’m the only other musician in the immediate family.

Where did music fit into your life at that time?

I loved to sing at home. At that time, the only place I heard music would have been at home. Records: mostly classical music and some popular Soviet music. I remember hearing pop music for the first time when we left the Soviet Union – I would have been 7. It was the Beatles. I was hooked... . Piano was my first instrument. My mother tried starting me when I was about five – still in Moscow. That only lasted a couple of lessons. I wouldn’t have become a musician had I not been pushed.

Andrew resumed his piano studies when his family settled in Toronto, at the age of about 9, with Marina Geringas at the Toronto RCM. He was soon enrolled in the gifted youth programme which provided him with his first experiences of chamber music. “With others, it was a joy from the beginning.”

Do you remember when you began to think of yourself as a musician?

Not a particular point. But there was always the mirror of my friends who considered me a musician...

JUNE’S WINNERS & PRIZES: CONGRATULATIONS!

HERE’S WHAT THEY WON

• Sara Schabas: Two tickets to hear Andrew Burashko and the Art of Time Ensemble perform at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, in Musical Transformations: Erich Korngold: Source & Inspiration on Thursday July 29 (8:00pm, Walter Hall). This intriguingly creative concert linking the 20th and 21st centuries features a Korngold suite and the new songs it has inspired.

• Phoebe Cleverly and Claudia Krawchuk: Each win a pair of tickets to Robert Schumann 1810-2010 which launches The Art of Time’s 2010-2011 season (Sept 17 and 18, Enwave Theatre). With readings from his own letters and critical writing, the programme explores Schumann’s piano, vocal and chamber music, and includes the Andante from his Piano Quartet Op.47, selections from Kreisleriana, a selection of lieder, and the entire Piano Quintet Op.44.

• Barbara Thomson and Carol Desoer: each win a copy of Andrew Burashko’s solo CD Burashko Plays Prokofiev on the Opening Day label. (ODR 9316): Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 6 Op. 82 and his Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet Op.75. “I like this recording because Prokofiev’s music resonates on a very deep level in me. I’m very proud of this recording.”

JUNE’S WINNERS & PRIZES: CONGRATULATIONS!HERE’S WHAT THEY WON
• Sara Schabas: Two tickets to hear Andrew Burashko and the Art of Time Ensemble perform at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, in Musical Transformations: Erich Korngold: Source & Inspiration on Thursday July 29 (8:00pm, Walter Hall). This intriguingly creative concert linking the 20th and 21st centuries features a Korngold suite and the new songs it has inspired.
• Phoebe Cleverly and Claudia Krawchuk: Each win a pair of tickets to Robert Schumann 1810-2010 which launches The Art of Time’s 2010-2011 season (Sept 17 and 18, Enwave Theatre). With readings from his own letters and critical writing, the programme explores Schumann’s piano, vocal and chamber music, and includes the Andante from his Piano Quartet Op.47, selections from Kreisleriana, a selection of lieder, and the entire Piano Quintet Op.44.
• Barbara Thomson and Carol Desoer: each win a copy of Andrew Burashko’s solo CD Burashko Plays Prokofiev on the Opening Day label. (ODR 9316): Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 6 Op. 82 and his Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet Op.75. “I like this recording because Prokofiev’s music resonates on a very deep level in me. I’m very proud of this recording.”

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