Vira Zhuk, violin
Vira Zhuk effortlessly combines the Ukrainian virtousity and deep melancholic tone with the finesse of Viennese musicianship. She has performed in 30 countries on five continents, at prestigous venues such as the Musikverein Wien, Konzerhaus Wien, Flagey in Brussels, ORF RadioKulturhaus, Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid, Danish Royal Opera, Süreyya Opera in Istanbul, and many others. Vira's musical development has been influenced by artistic impulses with Mauricio Fuks, Julian Rachlin, and Menahem Pressler.
Kyiv-born violinist Vira Zhuk has been in the spotlight of the national musical arena from a very early age. Her extraordinary talent has led to appearances in the biggest concert venues in Ukraine such as the Grand Hall of National Philharmonie at the age of seven and a debut as a soloist with the J. S. Bach concerto when she was ten. After several years of guidance from Lyobov Marinenko, Vira entered the Lysenko Music School for gifted children in Kyiv to continue working with the famous Yaroslawa Rivnyak.
In her school years Vira Zhuk has been invited to perform at various national and international festivals such as Kunst verbindet in Germany, New names - young stars of Ukraine, Vladimir Horowitz Foundation Festival, Festival di Spoleto in Italy, Festival di Musica di Portogruaro in Italy, Eilat International Chamber Music Festival in Israel, Festival Lucca Estate in Italy just to name a few. Immediately after graduating from the Music Gymnasium in Kyiv, Vira moved to Vienna to continue her studies with the legendary violinist Pavel Vernikov at the Musik und Kunst Universität der Stadt Wien. In addition to her studies in Vienna, Vira Zhuk holds a diploma of the International competition training course at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Italy.
In last seasons Vira Zhuk performed in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Holland, Denmark, Poland, France, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Austria, Georgia and Turkey. Vira was invited as a violin instructor at Vienna Workshop and gave master classes at Tarapaca Musica Festival in Chile.