Solomiya Ivakhiv receives the award, particularly in recognition for her work spotlighting Ukrainian music
The University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Fine Arts recently announced its annual award winners, recognising faculty and staff whose excellence and commitment inspire its community.
Among the recipients was Solomiya Ivakhiv, who received the outstanding faculty award. Ivakhiv serves on the faculty as professor of violin and viola, and co-ordinator of strings.
Ivakhiv is a Ukrainian concert violinist, chamber musician, educator, and humanitarian. She performs internationally and has recorded for Naxos, Brilliant Classics and Labor Records.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ivakhiv has organised and performed benefit concerts supporting Ukrainian musicians via the Lisa Batiashvilli Foundation, Tikva Orphanage in Odessa, United Ukrainian American Relief Committee and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
She was named Honored (Merited) Artist of Ukraine in 2021, the country’s highest cultural award.
Her solo album, Ukraine: Journey to Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano, was featured in the Top 5 New Classical Releases on the iTunes billboard and received a silver medal at the Global Music Awards in 2016.
Additionally, she has highlighted Ukrainian music on her albums Ukrainian Masters and Ukrainian Christmas, which was recorded during air raids in November 2023.
She is the artistic director of the Ukrainian Institute’s Music at the Institute (MATI) Concert Series in New York City, a position she has held since 2010, collaborating with other musicians regularly on the series to promote Ukrainian classical music.
As a teacher, she has led masterclasses at institutions such as Yale, Columbia, Penn State, Boston Conservatory, Oberlin, and top conservatories in China and created opportunities for students to perform and collaborate with other institutions during the pandemic.
Ivakhiv holds a doctorate from Stony Brook University and a master’s degree from M.Lysenko State Academy of Music, Ukraine. She moved to the US to study at the Curtis Institute with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, Philip Setzer, Ani Kavafian and Rafael Druian.
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