The CMR Spotlight
Serge Winitzki
Serge Winitzki was born in 1972 in Moscow, Russia. Shortly after beginning piano lessons at age 5, he showed signs of having 'perfect pitch', or at least an ability to recognize individual notes without looking at the keyboard. He took his musical abilities to greater heights at the Gnesiny Special Music School in Moscow, where he spent 6 years studying both violin and piano. Serge now says of that experience: "The Gnesiny school was graduating professional musicians, and thus there was a lot of pressure to perform well. Besides, the violin didn't appeal to me very much . After I got interested in math and decided to resume my education at a math-oriented school, I quit playing violin altogether, but continued to practice the piano. My musical interests at the time were limited to playing J.S. Bach, whom I then thought to be the only interesting composer, and regarded the history of the late 18th and of the 19th century music as a major intellectual setback".
In 1990, while an undergraduate student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, he became interested in classical organ music, and began taking informal organ lessons at the Moscow State University. "Most importantly, they offered me an instrument to practice on (as organs are rather scarce in Moscow). At one point I almost stopped practicing the piano completely, and concentrated exclusively on the organ. During this period I learned a large portion of J.S. Bach's organ opus, and didn't have much interest in any other composers."
After completing his undergraduate studies (1992), Serge moved to the United States in order to pursue a PhD. in physics at Tufts University. While in Boston, his musical activity flourished. He continued to practice the piano, and found opportunities to give organ recitals at community churches in Boston, and at Tufts University.
Along with certain personality changes resulting from moving to a vastly different environment, there came a significant broadening of his musical interests. "I started listening to late romantic music, then to the 'avant-garde' of the early 20th century. My interest in organ music lead me to the music of Reger, Dupré, Duruflé, and L. Vierne, which in turn prepared me for the works of Langlais and Messiaen. But most of that music was too difficult for me to play on the organ. I therefore returned to the piano, starting with music from Scriabin's later polytonal period, as well as early Prokofiev. Although my piano technique had improved a little, I eventually came to realize that I was never meant to enjoy a professional musician's career, even though music has become an important part of my life."
Given his aptitude for music, as well as his familiarity with computers, it was only a matter of time before he became involved with MIDI sequencing. Using Cakewalk's program, and a Yamaha Clavinova, he has created more than a few well-crafted sequences of piano and organ works by such composers as Reger, Dupré, Duruflé, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Messiaen. Serge used step-recording techniques for the organ pieces, usually adding registration and a lot of tempo variation afterwards. For the piano pieces, he recorded realtime takes on the Clavinova synthesizer, and later edited them to perfection.
At present, Dr. Winitzki works as a research associate in Physics at the University of Cambridge (UK). When he resumes his MIDI sequencing activities in the near future, he hopes to complete Messiaen's early (pre-1950) organ opus; more organ pieces by Reger, Duruflé, and Dupré; and more piano music by Scriabin. He may even consider some music for the violin ("if I figure out how to 'MIDIfy' it properly")