Music

Formal Training

I’ve been interested in music since childhood and received formal musical training: I completed music school in the accordion class in four years instead of the usual five. At my graduation exam I performed, among other pieces, the demanding Concert Triptych by Zh. Kati, but I didn’t go on to a music college.

Performing

In my first year at university I played guitar in the Kharkiv rock band Gloria. The high point was a demo recording that, according to the frontman, even reached Andrei Makarevich, and a concert on the square in front of the Metalist House of Culture on May 1, 1999.

Singing with ZZ FortZZ Fort band membersWhile working at Zfort Group I became the guitarist and singer of the local cover band ZZ Fort, which performed at corporate events from time to time.

Wikipedia and Grunge

In the late 2010s I became interested in music history, particularly the grunge era, and wrote dozens of featured-quality and hundreds of regular Wikipedia articles. In particular, I’m the author of an unprecedented complete cycle of featured articles about every Alice in Chains album, as well as foundational articles on Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain🔗.

Microtonal Music

In the 2020s I discovered the work of the leading microtonal composers of the 20th century and unexpectedly found an answer to what modern music might sound like if, several centuries ago, people hadn’t settled on equal temperament and the familiar piano keyboard. Some of these observations are reflected in Wikipedia articles I wrote about Ben Johnston’s life and work and Harry Partch’s instruments.

All ten of Ben Johnston’s string quartets can be heard across three discs recorded by the Kepler Quartet over ten years (I personally love all of them, starting with the fourth):