Sept. 25: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik Performs as Featured Soloist with the Louisville Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor Conducted by Ziwei Ma
Photo of Yevgeny Kutik by Griffin Harrington available in hi-resolution here.
Violinist Yevgeny Kutik Performs as Featured Soloist
with the Louisville Orchestra
in Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63
Conducted by Ziwei Ma
Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Ogle Center at IU Southeast | 4201 Grant Line Rd. | New Albany, IN
Tickets and More Information
“balanced passion with nuance” – The Strad on Yevgeny Kutik
Louisville, KY — On Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm, violinist Yevgeny Kutik, who The New York Times describes as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” is the featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Ziwei Ma. Kutik will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63. The concert will also feature Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 by Johannes Brahms.
Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of standard works as well as rarely heard and newly composed repertoire.
Kutik holds a special place in his heart for Prokofiev’s work—especially the concerto featured on this program—particularly because of the awe-inspiring personal experience Kutik had while first learning it, which shaped how Kutik came to view and appreciate the 20th century composer as Kutik grew into the artist he is today.
Kutik explains: “It was a particularly memorable violin lesson with my teacher, Roman Totenberg, as we worked on Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Born in 1911, Roman was a violinist and pedagogue, a man whose monumental career put him at the forefront of some of the most important cultural and artistic developments of the 20th century. As the lesson concluded, he very casually mentioned, ‘You know, I once met Prokofiev.’.”
Roman had met Prokofiev at a nightclub in Paris, where artists went to play bridge, to smoke, and to drink. Roman approached Sergei Prokofiev, and said, ‘Mr. Prokofiev, I would love to discuss your music if you might have a spare several minutes.’ Prokofiev simply stared at Roman, and after a moment, replied dryly, ‘You know, I’d rather we just play cards.’
I imagined Prokofiev and my teacher, a young man at the time, playing cards well into the night, swapping stories and telling tales. Roman’s memory of this night never left me. I’ve played a lot of Prokofiev’s music since that violin lesson years ago. More than anything, I’m drawn to the humanity behind the music—to the extraordinary storyteller who paints such vivid pictures that one cannot help but be instantly drawn in and captivated. It is like sitting down with a great book and letting a new world unfold before you, as if by magic.”
More about Yevgeny Kutik: Committed to the music of our time, Kutik regularly gives premiere and repeat performances of major works by today’s most celebrated composers. This season, he gives the world premiere of a new work by Jonathan Leshnoff with pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner presented by Newport Classical. In January 2025, he made his debut with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, led by Michelle Merrill, in a performance of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2. In 2022 at the Tanglewood Music Festival, he gave the world premiere of Cântico, a work for solo violin by Andreia Pinto Correia co-commissioned for Kutik by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, he debuted with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin, performing the world premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Violin Concerto, written for him. The concerto is based on Schwantner’s earlier work, The Poet’s Hour – Soliloquy for Violin, which Kutik recorded on episode six of Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra, released on DVD by Naxos and broadcast nationally on PBS.
A native of Minsk, Belarus, Yevgeny Kutik immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of five. His 2014 album, Music from the Suitcase: A Collection of Russian Miniatures (Marquis Classics), features music he found in his family’s suitcase after immigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1990, and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Classical chart. The album garnered critical acclaim and was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and in The New York Times. Kutik’s recent releases on Marquis include The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021) and Meditations on Family (2019), for which he commissioned eight composers to translate a personal family photo into a short musical miniature – a project featured on the cover of Strings magazine. Kutik’s other recordings include his debut album, Sounds of Defiance (2012), and Words Fail (2016), both released to critical acclaim.
Other recent performance highlights include debuts at the Kennedy Center presented by Washington Performing Arts, and at the Ravinia Festival, as well as recital appearances as part of the Dame Myra Hess Concerts Chicago; at UCLA; Peoples' Symphony Concerts, Kaufman Music Center, and National Sawdust in New York City; the Embassy Series and The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.; and at the Lobkowicz Collections Prague presented by Prince William Lobkowicz. Festival performances have included the Tanglewood Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele in Germany, and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.
Kutik made his major orchestral debut in 2003 with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops as the First Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, and has since performed with orchestras throughout the country including the Rochester (NY) and Dayton Philharmonics; the Detroit, New Haven, Asheville, and Wyoming symphony orchestras; and more. Abroad, he has appeared with Germany’s Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and WDR Rundfunk Orchestra Köln, Montenegro’s Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Japan’s Tokyo Vivaldi Ensemble, and the Cape Town Philharmonic in South Africa.
Passionate about his heritage and its influence on his artistry, Kutik is an advocate for the Jewish Federations of North America, the organization that assisted his family in coming to the United States, and regularly speaks and performs across the United States to both raise awareness and promote the assistance of refugees from around the world.
Yevgeny Kutik began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and went on to study with Zinaida Gilels, Shirley Givens, Roman Totenberg, and Donald Weilerstein. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory. Kutik is the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Birch Festival – a festival built around connecting and integrating leading musicians with the Berkshire community, while highlighting the unique and original stories of those who make up the Berkshires. His violin was crafted in Italy in 1915 by Stefano Scarampella. For more information, please visit www.yevgenykutik.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, described as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” (The New York Times) is the featured soloist in a performance with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Ziwei Ma. Kutik will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63. The concert program will also feature a performance of Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 by Johannes Brahms.
Concert details:
Who: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik
Presented by the Louisville Orchestra
Conducted by Ziwei Ma
What: Music by Sergei Prokofiev and Johannes Brahms
When: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Ogle Center at IU Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Rd, New Albany, IN 47150
Tickets and information: https://www.louisvilleorchestra.org/events/detail/prokofiev-brahms-25735