Classic Accordeon Virtuosos in the Berlin…Metro
Leave a commentMay 15, 2013 by anelim
A few months ago, at Potsdamer platz, a pair of amazing musicians left me and my fiancé speechless for half an hour. I forgot to post this back then, so I’m posting now.
Listen here: A.Vivaldi, J.S.Bach. Concerto d-moll (5.Presto)
You’d be lucky to hear them play live. They were the most awesome street musicians I had ever heard, and they should have been playing in a concert hall, and not in the freezing metro. Yet, here they were, unassumingly dressed in old winter coats, and playing classical accordion duet pieces with unbelievable virtuosity and spirit. It was like someone had built an organ in the U-Bahn.
I ended up dancing on my feet while waiting for the next U-Bahn and buying both of their CDs as a joint anniversary present: and they are just as awesome as the live performance. The accordions they played (two types, both known as bayan in Russian), their technique, and their looks made me think they might be Russian(-speaking), so I approached them during a pause and told them in Russian that they were awesome – and it turned out that they were from Ukraine.
You can listen to more pieces here and get the CDs: http://www.volod.com.ua/burdyug_fesenko.php (you’ll need to email bayan.ukraine@gmail.com).
I looked up the duo online and here’s what I found: Olexandr Burdyug and Andrey Fesenko graduates of the Prokofiev Donetsk State Academy of Music Ukraine, and laureates of international competitions and festivals. They have had many concerts in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Italy and Germany. They teach bayan/accordion at the Bortnyansky Sumy High College of Art and Culture in Ukraine.
Olexandr Burdyug and Andry Fesenko rocking Berlin’s U-Bahn in November 2012
n days in Berlin 