Roman Krasnovsky (right), at his organ music presentation for the Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin (1994)
Roman Krasnovsky
Roman Krasnovsky was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 1955. His father was an orchestra musician. At the age of five he began to play the piano, and resolved to make music his livelihood.
Mr. Krasnovsky obtained a thorough musical training from hugh school trough college and studied at various conservatories in the Soviet Union. As a child he took lessons from the composer Aram Khatchaturian who urged him to study composition with him at Moscow conservatory after high school. Yet, the overwhelming impression the great master made over the teenager Krasnovsky led to an abrupt break of his composition activities. The youngster decided to become an interpreter of music, not a creator.
He pursued his education and career. He began to perform in public as a soloist of the Symphony orchestra of the Donetsk Philharmonic Society when he entered the Music College in 1970. He continued his studies at the Art Academy of Kharkov, Ukraine, until 1979.
As a student he performed with the Symphony Orchestra of the Kharkov Philharmonic Society where he played keyboard instruments such as piano, harpsichord and celesta. He frequently performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestra, playing piano concertos of Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, GershwinÕs Rhapsody in blue, and Johann Sebastian BachÕs six harpsichord concertos. Continuing to pursue his solo career he performed practically all BachÕs works for harpsichord. In addition, he was the accompanist of international soloists such as Victoria Mullova .
Mr. Krasnovsky studied the organ under Professor Galina Kozlova at the Conservatory of Gorky, now Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, from 1986 untill 1989. He has given organ recitals throughout the Ukraine and as far north as the Baltic Republics, and perfected his playing in masterclasses held by Professor Leo Kramer of Speyer, Germany, as well as with various professors from Vienna, Austria and other musical centers. His chief activity as orchestral pipe organist of the Kharkov Philharmony did not hinder his habit of performing as a pianist, charpsichordist, solo organist and accompanist of renowned musicians.
Mr. Krasnovsky immigrated to Israel in 1990, and now lives in town of Carmiel in Northern Galilee. He teaches organ in the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance as an assistant professor and he also teaches piano at the Conservatory of Carmiel. He performs regulary at the organs of the Church of the Savior and the Dormition abbey in Jerusalem, in the city of Jaffo, as well as in Tabha, a small town on the lake of Tiberias. He accompanies chamber ensembles and he is a soloist of well-known orchestras such as the Israel Symphony orchestra, and also accompanies foreign performers touring in Israel. His activities also include piano recitals and TV performances. Dan Shilon, the famous Israeli talk show host, invited him twice to his weekly talk show on Israeli TV. He has been invited to perform as an organist and a pianist at numerous events in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. He has taught in organ course in Westfalia, Germany, and was asked for more courses in the future.
He is presently establishing series of regular organ recitals in his home town, Carmiel.
After a twenty years' break in composing, the tragic assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin brought him back to composition. Mourning Itzhak Rabin, an organ piece, was first performed on Krasnovsky's annual winter tour to Europe. Both the Cologne and the Frankfurt public and press highly praised the work and the interpretation the composer gave himself.
He then went on and gave a first performance of other of his compositions during his August/September tour to Switzerland and Germany in1997. Critics welcomed enthusiastically and urged Krasnovsky to go on composing.
In 1993 he issued a compact disc "Organ Music from St. Elisabeth church," Marburg/Lahn, produced by Hanssler Classic LC 98.994. Hanssler Production also released a disc with various highly praised European organists, such as Hans Haselbock. Krasnovsky's interpretation of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532 was chosen as the first piece of this disc, LC 98.103.
This was also the piece of music he had the privilege to perform in a private session to the Israeli Prime Minister Ytzhak Rabin in Jerusalem, one and a half year before the tragic death of Rabin.
Larely, another compact disc was recorded at the Silbermann organ in Basel St. Peter church and at the Kuhn organ at the Lenzburg City Church (both in Switzerland). He also recorded a piano compact disc in the Eckenstein Studios, Basel, Switzerland, in September 1997.
Mr. Krasnovsky's repertoire encompasses a broad spectrum of music, ranging from the Baroque to the Classical eras, and from Romanticism to music of the Twentieth Century. He is particularly committed to Olivier Messiaen and Francis Poulenc.
Contact addresses:
Mr. Krasnovsky has composed many original organ compositions, including 3 symphonies for organ.
Some of the Mr. Krasnovsky’s concerts’ locations:
Berlin Dom
Cologne Cathedral
Berlin. "Keiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis Church"
Roma. "Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri"
Marburg. "St. Elisabeth Church"
Dusseldorf. "Neander Church"
Basel Cathedral (also for "Commemorating the 1st Zionist Congress)
Basel. "St. Peter Church"
Jerusalem. All Churches.
Rotterdam. St. Laurens Church"
Frankfurt am Mein. "St.Katharin Church"
Ulm Cathedral
Darmstadt. "St. Paulus Church"
Hannover. "St. Markus Church" (for EXPO 2000)
Altenberg Dom
Tel Aviv. "Immanuel Church"
Contact addresses:
Mr. Roman Krasnovsky
Azmon 4/4
20100 Carmiel
Israel
Phone and fax: 972 4 9988170
Email: krasn@012.net.il
In Germany
Freundeskreis R. Krasnovsky
C. -Stahlschmidt-Str. 11
D - 57258 - Freudenberg
Germany
ph. and fax: 49-2734-1834