Yevgeny Kutik, violinist

Photo by Corey Hayes

LINKS & ASSETS

Biography (short, medium, long) | High resolution photos | Website

PRESS CONTACTS

Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com

Kira Grunenberg, kira@jensenartists.com

646.536.7864

Kutik presented an elegantly phrased, sensitive interpretation that balanced passion with nuance. His performance of the Schnittke Sonata No. 1 was as compelling as his spoken introduction to it, both of which demonstrated a deep knowledge and understanding of the work...
— The Strad

With a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique” (The New York Times), violinist 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.

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.

Committed to the music of our time, Kutik regularly gives premiere and repeat performances of major works by today’s most celebrated composers. In January 2025, he makes his debut with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, led by Michelle Merrill, in a performance of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, The American Four Seasons. 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 specifically for him. The concerto is based on Schwantner’s earlier work, The Poet’s HourSoliloquy for Violin, which Kutik recorded on episode six of Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra, a made-for-television classical music concert series released on DVD by Naxos and broadcast nationally on PBS.

Kutik’s additional releases on Marquis include his most recent album, The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021), which highlights folklore and folktales portrayed in the music of Prokofiev. The album features new arrangements by Kutik, Michael Gandolfi, and Kati Agócs, commissioned specifically for the album. In 2019, he released Meditations on Family, for which he commissioned eight composers to translate a personal family photo into a short musical miniature for violin and various ensemble, envisioning the project as a living archive of new works inspired by memories, home, and belonging. Strings Magazine featured Kutik as its cover story for the March/April issue, reporting, “True to Kutik’s vision, each miniature is a window into the composer’s emotional life.” Featured composers include Joseph Schwantner, Andreia Pinto Correia, Gity Razaz, Timo Andres, Chris Cerrone, Kinan Azmeh, Gregory Vajda, and Paola Prestini. Kutik’s 2016 album, Words Fail, uses Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words as a starting point to expand upon the idea that music surpasses traditional language in its expressive capabilities. His 2012 debut album, Sounds of Defiance, features the music of Achron, Pärt, Schnittke, and Shostakovich, focusing on music written during the darkest periods of the lives of these composers.

Kutik delivers the performances with a blend of polished dexterity and genteel, old-world charm.
— WQXR, New York Public Radio

NEWS

PHOTOS

On the recording [Music from the Suitcase], Mr. Kutik retells these stories with his dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique, bringing out the zesty playfulness of Eshpai, the melodic genius of Prokofiev, or the cadenza-like virtuosity of an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Russian Dance’ from Swan Lake.
— The New York Times

VIDEOS

In [George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 2]’s solo passages the violin often projects an old-fashioned rhapsodic style, which was magnified by Yevgeny Kutik’s rich, sweet tone.
— The New York Times

AUDIO

This is the first time I have heard Kutik, and I hope it will not be the last. He is always thinking, always playing the music, not just the notes.
— American Record Guide
Rhapsody, “Hungarian Tunes” - 7. Vivo
Andrei Eshpai
Lieder ohne Worte No. 32
Felix Mendelssohn
Cadenza for the Once Young
Gity Razaz
Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 94, IV. Allegro con brio
Prokofiev
Previous
Previous

GatherNYC

Next
Next

Newport Classical