"music and a mission"

Indianapolis Star/News, The (IN) (August 27, 2006) -- Indianapolis Star, The (IN)

August 27, 2006
Former Soviet Jew mixes music, mission

Author: WHITNEY SMITH
International Violin Competition of Indianapolis; Yevgeny Kutik

Article Text:

All violinists with professional ambitions play recitals, but Yevgeny Kutik couples some of his these days with poignant commentary.

The United Jewish Communities, a philanthropic and humanitarian organization based in New York, sends the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis participant around the country as a speaker.

Mainly, the 21-year-old American citizen describes his family's 1990 escape from the former Soviet Union, driven by anti-Semitism and assisted by the group he now represents.

"The story is simple," said the Boston University student by phone from his parents' home in Pittsfield, Mass. "We had an established family in Russia, with jobs and property, and came to the U.S. basically reduced to . . . about $400 and not much else."

Kutik's father, who now works in the U.S. computer industry, played trumpet in the State Symphony Orchestra in what is now Belorussia. His mother is a violinist.

"We're Jewish, and it was definitely a struggle," the violinist said. "There was a lot of rampant anti-Semitism at the time. The main reason we left was that my parents saw for my brother and I no real opportunity in the former Soviet Union."

At Boston University, Kutik studies music, but also Russian and other academic courses. He said he prefers a diverse academic environment to a conservatory.

Kutik has been studying with an emeritus professor, Roman Totenberg, the 95-year-old father of longtime National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg. "He personally knew everyone, from Prokofiev to Menuhin to Stravinsky," Kutik said.

If Kutik proceeds to the finals of the Indianapolis competition, he plans to play Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 -- one of his favorites -- which he has performed with the Boston Pops under the direction of Keith Lockhart.

"It was exciting," he said, "because I live like 10 minutes away from Tanglewood (Music Festival). This is kind of like my hometown orchestra. It was thrilling."
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Yevgeny Kutik
Born: April 28, 1985, in Minsk, Soviet Union.
Residence: Pittsfield, Mass.
Education: Boston University.
Hobbies: Reading The New York Times, brushing up on his Russian, watching the World Cup. He recently attended his first Boston Red Sox game and said he prefers soccer to baseball.


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Record Number: ind103302317