Zoltan Almashi

ZOLTAN ALMASHI (born 1975 in Lviv) Graduated from the Mykola Lysenko Music Academy of Lviv in the composition and cello class of Yuriy Laniuk, later aspiring at the Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine under the direction of Yevhen Stankovych. He is a two-time winner of the Sergei Prokofiev competition (as a cellist and composer), and a recipient of the Levko Revutsky Prize for chamber music (2003).

He is the author of works for various orchestral ensembles, primarily chamber music. The composer’s works have been performed in Switzerland, France, Poland, Belarus, Moldova. He is a participant in all the major music festivals in Ukraine – “Contrasts” in Lviv, “Forum of Young Music” in Kyiv, “Kyiv Music Fest”, Kyiv’s “Musical Premieres of the Season”, “Two Days and Two Nights” in Odesa. In 2003, his septet “Life Extended” was performed at the Gaudeamus Music Week Festival in Amsterdam by the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble. In 2004, the composer received a commission from the European Cultural Society, which resulted in Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano – the first performances took place in Krakow and Amsterdam. In 2008, he was a scholarship recipient of the “Gaude Polonia” program of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as part of which he completed a composition internship with Aleksander Lasoń at the Music Academy in Katowice. In 2009, commissioned by the Polish Institute in Kyiv, he wrote a piece entitled “And the leaf will be lifted further by the river waters…”, subsequently performed by the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Roman Rewakowicz during a concert tour in Poland and Ukraine.

Currently, Zoltan Almashi works as a cellist in the National Ensemble of Soloists “Kyiv Kamerata”, and is also a member of various chamber ensembles performing contemporary music.