Utah Symphony Assistant Principal Second Violinist Evgenia Zharzhavskaya has lived in many historic places including St. Petersburg, where legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz lived and played (see my recent book review). St. Petersburg is known as the cultural capital of Russia. When Evgenia lived there, competition amongst aspiring violinists was fierce. She remembers, “I used to study in a special music school that was a combination of music school and other academic classes at the same time. Like Interlochen in the United States. But it starts in first grade, not high school. So you have everything; musical classes, musical lessons, ear training, everything from a really early age. We had 20 violinists in my class and they were all really top musicians, with musician parents and violinist parents. It was hard mentally, too, because if you were not good enough, they would kick you out. At that point all the education was free in Russia.”
Evgenia later studied in the United States with Elmar Oliveira (one of my favorite personalities in the violin world). I asked her about that experience. In Evgenia’s words, “He was really great…he was a great teacher. Not all great soloists are also great teachers. I studied with him for about 4 years. He was absolutely amazing. Each lesson I would walk out learning something new, even though I had already graduated from 5 years of conservatory in Russia. He could always show how to do it. He would break it down into small things and explain really well.”
When asked about learning English, Evgenia explained that she took English classes in Russia, but the level was very low. She learned English most effectively by participating in International music festivals all over Europe: Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), Gustav Mahler Academy (Italy), and Verbier Festival (Switzerland), among others. These were all in English. “When came to America in 2010 I still was really bad, but then picked it up after living here.”
Evgenia’s daughter, Kaya, one of the newest members of the Utah Symphony family, was born on March 30, 2019. Their household is multi-lingual. Evgenia (mom) speaks Russian. Her husband, Mateusz (dad), speaks Polish. Their babysitter speaks English. Mom and Dad speak English to each other. Each of them speak to Kaya in their own language. Kaya doesn’t seem to mind even though Evgenia admits that so many languages being used at the same time must be confusing. Though they are two years apart, Kaya happens to share a birthday with Vance, Utah Symphony violinist Karen Wyatt’s older son. Coincidentally, Karen and Evgenia often share a stand at work.
According to Evgenia, going back to work last summer when Kaya was only three months old was a challenge. She relates, “It was hard to transition when you have to leave for 5 or 6 hours…being on the bus to Deer Valley and other venues. My husband was working from home and we had a really good babysitter. We were managing fine, but it was just hard for me mostly because I would come home from work and all the rest of my time I would spend with Kaya.”
When Kaya was very little she didn’t particularly like the sound of the violin. She would cry intensely. According to Evgenia, “You know, not just crying, but her lips start to shake, and starting to cry.” However, despite her initial distaste, Evgenia now feels that Kaya has begun to enjoy music, as she dances to almost anything.
Recently, Evgenia had been preparing for an Intermezzo concert. It was a challenge because she could only find maybe an hour per day to practice. But she would make the most of her limited time and “try to put as much as I can into it!” During this concert Mateusz started to prepare her for bed, but she became upset due to her mother’s absence. She had gotten used to her mother putting her to sleep every night since the pandemic struck in March. This had not been the case when the orchestra was working full time, pre-pandemic. Evgenia explained, “we would sometimes have four nights away from home. So in a way I’m grateful for having more time with Kaya now. My husband showed her the live concert when it was aired. Every time I would be playing they put the camera on me and she would point at me and say ‘Tata.’ Tata means father in Polish, but for some reason she doesn’t say mama, she says ‘Tata’ for both of us. Every time the camera would point to somebody else on the program, she would start to cry.”
As far as socializing, Evgenia and Kaya went to visit Utah Symphony colleague Erin Svoboda-Scott and her baby boy of about the same age (Wesley, born in April of 2019). But as Evgenia pointed out, “At this age, they really don’t care about each other.”
I hope you have enjoyed meeting one of the newest members of the Utah Symphony family. Stay tuned for an interview with Erin Svoboda-Scott and Wesley, her son, in the next issue of the Musicians’ Newsletter.
-Lynn Rosen
View Evgenia Zharzhavskaya’s bio here