When Yevgeny Kutik was five years old, his mother got fired for being Jewish.
She had been teaching violin at a conservatory in Belarus, but she was dismissed because the department had exceeded the number of Jews they were allowed to employ.
That was the final straw for Kutik's family, and they fled the former Soviet Union for the United States. They left behind all of their belongings apart from what would fit in a few suitcases.
Much to the family's disbelief, Kutik's mother filled one of the precious suitcases with sheet music that she had played and taught.
Growing up, that music was a fixture in Kutik's life, so much so that he recorded many of the pieces for his 2014 album that's aptly titled "Music from the Suitcase."
Yevgeny Kutik will travel to northern Michigan this weekend to perform in the Traverse Symphony Orchestra's Maestro Series.
He spoke with Classical IPR this week about the upcoming recital, and he shared excerpts from a few of his studio albums.
For Kutik, creating an album is like scripting a movie. "If you were to sit down and listen to the album from beginning to end, you'd be getting the whole story line," he explained.
On his most recent release, "The Death of Juliet and Other Tales," he alternates arrangements of Russian folk songs with compositions by Sergei Prokofiev.
Kutik implores listeners to to play the album straight through from beginning to end.
"I promise you'll be listening to these well-known works of Prokofiev completely differently," he said.
Yevgeny Kutik will appear Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in the Traverse Symphony Orchestra's Maestro Series at the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park.
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Music heard in this broadcast
Anton Rubinstein, Romance in E-flat major (with pianist Timothy Bozarth)
Timo Andres, Words Fail (composer is pianist)
Sergei Prokofiev, Sonata no. 2, final movement (with pianist Anna Polonsky)
