Virko Baley is a Jacyk Fellow at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and Distinguished Professor of Music, Composer-in-Residence and co-director of NEON, an annual composers’ conference, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received a 2007 Grammy® Award as recording co-producer for TNC Recordings and the prestigious Academy Award in Music 2008 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
“…some of Virko Baley’s most intimately wrought and inventive works to date. Memorable moments abound.”
– Jed Distler in ClassicsToday.com
Reviews from Around the World
Review of Virko Baley's Violin Concerto No. 1 as seen in the Village Voice article, "The Upfront Continent" by Kyle Gann from May 16, 1995.
Baley's Violin Concerto No. 1, with 17 players accompanying committed soloist Tom Chiu, had something of the same spirituality as Part and Gor– ecki, but with more subtle complexity and less literal repetition. The opening– movement's mournful violin melody kept bleeding into the orchestra, whose delicate sonorities were dotted with vibraphone, marimba, harp, harpsichord, and piano. Baley conceived the work as a requiem, writing the second movement as a "Dies Irae" with galloping rhythms on unison bass drums setting an internal mood for trumpet fanfares and some devilish folk–style fiddling. Though European in its polish and complexity, the work provided the very feature that audiences listen for desperately and that the other composers so prudishly withheld: sonic images memorable enough to take home.
The piece is full of intensity and great sorrow. The soloist employs a wide and strident vibrato to underscore the pain of loss. The intoning of one of the bassoon’s most abrasive notes, the low F-sharp, is a mark of the composer’s familiarity with the instrument and his ability to paint the text in an appropriate light. At several points the F-sharp drone is heard like the terrible wailing of a parent who has lost a child.
A Trois is an esoteric work. Baley tells us the inspiration also came from the death of a friend and the desire to pay homage to him and a pupil of his. Because his friend’s student was fond of codas, the work is intended to be just the coda of some larger “imaginary piece”. From its first phrases, the listener can hear how rich and complex the content is and only wonder, as the composer probably intended, what the rest of it must have sounded like.
Read the full review
It’s a very serious ambitious statement by a gifted artist, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it turns out to have more staying power than many other contemporary works by today’s trendier composers.
much of it framed by extra-musical allusions that place it in a solid context.
Baley’s music [is] deeply lyrical and emotively powerful in equal measure.
Conversations, Performances, and Appearances
On Monday, April 17th, 2023, Virko took part in the first of a series of music talks as part of the Kharkiv Music Festival. The conversation was centered around new meanings of Ukrainian music.
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Virko Baley was inducted into The College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame at UNLV as a distinguished individual who has made a profound impact on the arts in Las Vegas and around the world.
Ahead of his recent concert of solo piano works by Ukrainian composers, Dr. Timothy Hoft discussed the modern Ukrainian composers featured on the program with Virko Baley.
Get exclusive essays, early access to new compositions, and behind-the-scenes insights—delivered straight to your inbox.
Join a community where music meets memory, and every note tells a story.