Sergei Polusmiak
Quick Facts
Biography
Sergei Polusmiak (Russian: Сергей Полусмяк; Ukrainian: Сергій Полусм'як), "Merited Artist of Ukraine", is a Ukrainian Pianist. He was Artist in Residence and the Tom and Christine Neyer Family Professor of Music at Northern Kentucky University from 1998 until 2012. He is first prize winner in the Lysenko International Music Competition. He is a graduate of the Kharkiv Conservatory, where he studied with Regina Horowitz, sister of Vladimir Horowitz, after which he received the Post Graduate Diploma, Kiev Conservatory. From 1975 to 1998 he was Professor at Kharkiv Institute of Arts and the Special Music School for Gifted Children, Ukraine.
He has performed concerts in Russia, France, Germany, Belgium, Mexico and the United States. He was presented in "Sergei at the Aronoff", at the Grand Opening of the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, and has appeared as soloist with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Keith Lockhart, Music Director, the Northern Kentucky Symphony, and the Russian Chamber Orchestra of San Francisco.
Sergei Polusmiak is a jury member of major international piano competitions, including the first International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz, Kiev, Ukraine; Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, Palm Desert, California; Lysenko International Piano Competition, Kiev, Ukraine; Milosh Magin International Piano Competition, Paris, France, and the International Piano Competition, Lugansk, Ukraine. He is founder and Director of the Ukrainian Children's Music Theater of Kharkiv which performed in 1992 and 1994 with Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus. He is also founder and artistic director of the Ukrainian-France Summer Music Festival.
Sergei has recorded four CDs: Sergei Plays Sergei and Alexander, solo piano works of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin; Shostakovich, Music for Two Pianos with French pianist, Therese Dussaut; "Music for Clarinet and Piano with Ukrainian prodigy, Alexander Bedenko; and Sergei Polusmiak, Beautiful Music For Friends; The Language of Feelings. He has been featured artist and adjudicator for Music Teachers National Association, Ohio and Kentucky chapters, featured artist at the NKU Summer Piano Institute since 1997, and Visiting Artist at the Pedagogical University of Lugansk, Ukraine.