SKIIF Information

New York City, January '97 - The following press release was published by here we are unlimited, inc.

International Festival of music and arts to celebrate artistic heritage of the great Russian pianist and composer Sergey Kuryokhin and to benefit his family
Sergey Kuryokhin International Interdisciplinary Festival of music and arts (SKIIF) will take place in New York to commemorate the great contemporary Russian pianist and composer. Renown artists from Russia, Europe and the United States will perform on the Festival's stages. The Festival will open at the Knitting Factory on January 15th and continue through January 25th at Cooler, Washington Square Church and Bitter End.

The artistic goal of the Festival is to bring together the academic and experimental, classical and modern, elite and mass cultures. Here We Are - musicians, artists, dancers, poets declaring the Unlimited Commonwealth of Arts. Proceeds from the Festival will benefit Kuryokhin's family (he is survived by his wife and three children) and support research and publications of Sergey Kuryokhin's archives. Participants of the Festival have graciously agreed to perform without reimbursement.

Sergey Kuryokhin, pianist, composer, band leader, actor, director and public figure died of cancer on July 9, 1996, at the age of 42. He first attracted public attention as jazz pianist, playing solo, with Vladimir Chekasin, Anatoly Vapirov and others. In the early 1980s, before he was allowed to travel outside the Soviet Union, his records published by Leo Records, as well as a number of TV programs made him one of the cult figures of the burgeoning Russian underground. In 1984 he formed Pop-Mekhanika Orchestra - a band, a concept and a philosophy. The band, which could be anything from a modest trio to a full blown multimedia extravaganza complete with a full symphony, a brass band, a rock group, a circus, a zoo, a gypsy singer, and whatever else his fantasy could bring up at the moment, subsequently toured most of the world. Sergey Kuryokhin's discography counts more than 40 LPs and CDs, he composed music for dozens of films worldwide. His importance however stretches beyond his documented legacy. He was most known and valued as a tireless catalyst of artistic life, as a creative force which untied and formed artistic community, as one of the strongest and most vital voices of a revolutionary era, the era transformed the stagnant Soviet Union into new, yet unknown, but vibrant Russia.

SKIIF conceived as a Feast of Arts will present Baroque, Classical, Jazz, Free Improvisation and Rock music, Dance, Film, Theater and Poetry. Performers will include: Summit Chorale and Orchestra (Garyth Nair); Borah Bergman; Alexander Paley; Peter Brötzmann; Sainkho Namchylak; Thurston Moore; Andrey Boreyko; First Avenue; Gary Lucas; AuctYon; David Moss; Andrew Cyrilleand Vladimir Tarasov (and others).

SKIIF is conceived and produced by Boris Rayskin, cellist/composer/improviser, former member of Pop Mekhanika Orchestra, who currently lives in New York. Co-producers are Alex Kan, Bliss Records, First Avenue, Inc., Walter Thompson, Frank London, Elissa Kleeman, Alan Hadzi-Stefanov, Ralph Farris. Maximilian Schell, Natalya Andrechenko, Mihail Chemiakin and Joseph Rayskin provided conceptual guidance.