Submitted by the Salish Sea Early Music Festival.
Our special guest, Ukrainian Olena Zhukova, just arrived from Kyiv. She joins baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan in offering the “European Tour for Flute and Harpsichord” on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 12:30 p.m. at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Friday Harbor. Suggested donation is $20 to $30 (a free will offering); 18 and under are free. All are welcome regardless of donation. For more information, visit www.salishseafestival.org/sanjuan.
Celebrated Ukrainian harpsichordist Olena Zhukova will play music by Johann Sebastian Bach to represent Germany, alongside other selections for solo harpsichord in this musical tour of 18th-century Europe. She will be joined by baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan to sample 18th-century musical activity elsewhere on the European continent by Boismortier (France), Vivaldi (Italy), Oswald (Scotland), Handel (England) and extending to the end of the century with works by Mozart (Austria) and Berezovsky (Ukraine).
About Olena Zhukova
Ukrainian harpsichordist Olena Zhukova maintains her role as one of the foremost performers of works for harpsichord from five centuries, with frequent prominent solo, concerto and ensemble appearances with distinguished festivals, ensembles and venues throughout Ukraine and abroad. She holds a Ph.D. and is associate professor at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv and founder of the harpsichord class at the Glier Music Institute, having studied with the most prominent harpsichordists of our time, and is a winner of numerous harpsichord prizes and competitions.
She represented Ukraine during the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang and Seoul, and for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has performed together with prominent Ukrainian ensembles, including the Kiev Baroque Ensemble, Offertorium, Ars Amarilli, Secundum Artem, Lege artis and others. Among other awards and achievements, she has received awards in seven international competitions, including the first prize in the solo category, the Absolute First Prize in the “Bach Concerto for Harpsichord with Orchestra” in the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition and first prize in the International Tadini Competition, among others. She has collaborated with Ukrainian singers and instrumentalists of international renown, including Olena Leser (Lena Belkina), Andrei Bondarenko, Olga Bezsmertna and Olexandr Pushnyak. In 2017, her debut CD, “Harpsichord Mystery,” was released.
