1. Ruth Prieto: You have just won the 2018 edition of the prestigious Paloma O’Shea international piano competition in Santander. What does the prize mean to you?

Dmytro Choni: This competition is one of the most important piano competitions in the world, I'm enormously glad to be a winner of it. I'm thankful to the audience and to the competition's jury for acclaiming my playing.

2. R.P.: Winning such a major competition so soon: is it a label, is it that the gods are smiling on you, is it a responsibility?

Dmytro Choni: For me it is at first a very long way of development and improving myself.

3. R.P.: Why did you choose Prokofiev’s Concerto No 3 for the final (I’m sure you have been asked this many times already but still …)?

Dmytro Choni: Prokofiev 3 is a fantastic concerto which I wanted to play for a long time. It gives an unforgettable energy to the musicians and to the audience. Once I would like to play and maybe to record all five concertos of Prokofiev. I've already played No.2, No.3 and No.5. So I need to learn two more concertos to reach the goal. 

4. R.P.: We all have our own personal “inventory” of noises, sounds, music and songs. What can you tell us about your environment of sound or your “soundscape”?

Dmytro Choni: Sound is one the most important aspects of piano playing. I work a lot on my sound, trying to find my personal sound which represents my feelings in the music I play.

5. R.P.: What is your ID as a pianist?

Dmytro Choni: Never stop improving yourself.

6. R.P.: What (work or repertoire set) are you working on right now?

Dmytro Choni: Right after the competition I went to the masterclass with my Professor Milana Chernyavska in Germany to work on Chopin's concerto No.2. This is an absolutely new piece for me and I'm preparing it right now because I will play it two times with an orchestra in October.

7. R.P.: With which genre or style do you feel most comfortable?

Dmytro Choni: Most comfortable I feel myself in the romantic music and in the music of XX century.

8. R.P.: Have you got a “pet composer” or a composer who has been particularly influential?

Dmytro Choni: For now I'm above all enjoying playing Scriabin, Beethoven, Schumann and Prokofiev. But of course I love to play other pieces too.

9. R.P.: What has been your greatest extravagance in life?

Dmytro Choni: Once I fell asleep after lunch and woke up only 10 minutes before the concert.

10. R.P.: What does music contribute to education?

Dmytro Choni: I think, classical music is very important for at least general education and development of every person. 

11. R.P.: What is silence?

Dmytro Choni: Silence is a great mystery of creation.

12. R.P.: Are you interested by contemporary music?

Dmytro Choni: Yes, I am. I'm playing contemporary pieces time to time, I've also performed few premieres of pieces by Ukrainian composers.

13. R.P.: How do you see the scene today for contemporary piano music? Are there any present-day composers that attract your attention?

Dmytro Choni: I think, contemporary music can be performed more often than now. There are many great and talented present-day composers, whose music I like to play: Vitaliy Vyshynskyi, Oleg Bezborodko, Maxim Shalygin - they all are from Ukraine.

14. R.P.: Where are you now as a pianist?

Dmytro Choni: On my way.

15. R.P.: Have you got any projects in the pipeline?

Dmytro Choni: Yes, I'm getting many concert invitations right now, and some concerts were already planned before the Santander Paloma O'Shea competition. These are concerts with different orchestras, recitals and chamber music performances.
 


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