The profession of a musician requires constant honing of one’s skills and having them evaluated by recognised masters. Hence the special importance of master classes, which are often attended even by graduates of renowned schools and students of excellent educators. One can always acquire new technical skills, contrast one’s view of interpretation with another point of view, ask about solutions to specific problems and practice them. Contacts with masters are later a very important point in a musician’s CV, and it is also closely examined by their future employers. Searching for appropriate courses (always with a very limited number of places, often in foreign locations) is a difficult task, often very expensive.
The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra strives to meet such needs offering its young performers this kind of training. At the turn of February and March, the double bass section of the orchestra had the opportunity to work under the direction of the wonderful musician Ruslan Lutsyk. After studying in his home town, this Lviv-based artist continued his education at the prestigious Hohschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, and then began working at the renowned opera orchestra in Zurich (also appearing as the Philharmonia Zurich) and became a double bass class professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. He also willingly shares his knowledge with master class participants in many countries. At the same time, he has a very lively concert schedule as a soloist in a virtuoso repertoire for the double bass, which he describes as “the love of his life.” He has worked with such outstanding artists Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, John Eliot Gardiner, Nello Santi, Daniele Gatti, Franz Welser-Möst, Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Leo Nucci and many others. He is also the initiator of the first Ukrainian competition “The Golden Bass,” which has been taking place in Lviv since 2013.
Ruslan Lutsyk: “I am truly satisfied with the cooperation with the young double bassists from the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. All the musicians were very motivated, worked with great commitment, and showed great interest in both technical and artistic issues.
It was fantastic to experience the very good and warm atmosphere among the Orchestra’s musicians.
I would particularly like to thank Ms Agnieszka Stułka for the collision-free and efficient organisation of the workshops.”