Thursday, February 10, 2011

Vika Yermolyeva




Viktoriya (Vika) Yermolyeva (born 1978 in Kiev, Ukraine) is a Ukranian/Russian pianist. Started as a classical pianist she won several international piano competitions but later became known through Youtube portal under the nickname 'vkgoeswild' for creating piano covers of famous rock and metal songs. After the success, thanks to her Youtube videos, she officially switched her career from classical to rock music.
After studying at the Tchaikovsky Music Academy of the Ukraine (2000), she completed her graduate studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar, and the International Piano Academy "Incontri col Maestro" in ImolaItaly with the famous pianist Lazar Berman. Further studies took her to the Codarts Academy of Music and Modern Dance, at Rotterdam Conservatory, Netherlands.[1]
In the early classical phase of her career, she won a variety of piano competitions, such as 1st Prize at "Filippo Trevisan" competition for Piano Interpretation in Italy, winner of The Grachtenfestival 2005 Amsterdam, 1st Prize at 35th International Competition "Vincenzo Bellini" in Italy, 1st Prize at 20th International Piano Competition "Citta di Marsala", 1st Prize at International Piano Competition “Citta' Di Trani”, 1st Prize at 4th Sigismund Thalberg International Competition, and the Grand Prix at 9th Pierre Lantier International Music Competition in duet with V. Dmitriev (flute) in France.[2]
Since 2006 she refocused her career on playing rock music, concentrating on heavy metal covers by the whole gamut of famous metal bands. Her works are heavily subscribed on Youtube. She also occasionally covers classical orchestral compositions as well as music from sound tracks that is not otherwise available in sheet music.
Her debut CD of heavy metal covers was issued in October 2010 by Granville Records.[3]
On January 29 2011 she performed her first live rock concert in ReykjavíkIceland (VIGGIE & VIKA: Live in Iceland) collaborating with drummer Brian Viglione.


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