A Bösendorfer for Odessa

Varangians, the “Golden Horde,” Cossacks, Lithuanian grand princes, Polish kings, Austrian emperors and Russian czars mark the country’s varied history.

Its capital city, Kiev, looks back on 1500 years of history and is considered the hotbed of Russian culture.

The “great” river, the 2200 km long Dnieper, slices its territory from north to south and for centuries has separated Western civilization, marked by the French Revolution, from the Slavic civilization of the east.

Linking two civilizations

Today, Ukraine is a link between the two worlds. Its affiliation to Europe is undisputed. Many people even speak of the geographic center of Europe up in the Carpathian Mountains, which is equidistant to the Ural Mountains and the Torre de Belem in Lissabon.

The country between Lemberg (once the capital city of the Austrian Crown land "Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria") and Forest Carpathians has always been a land of culture, marked by Christian and Jewish influences. The list of famous artists, writers and musicians who had their roots in or lived in Ukraine is long and impressive: Nikolai Gogol, Ilya Repin, Stanislav Lem, Joseph Rot, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Horowitz and Emil Gilels, to name but a few examples. Or take the musicians Shura Cherkassky and David Oistrach, both of whom were from Odessa.

View of the Odessa harbor

Odessa -- Pearl on the Black Sea

Juri Presnov is also at home in Odessa. He has mastered the art of successful management. Presnov, an officer and lawyer by training, recognized early on and successfully took advantage of the opportunities that accompanied his country’s radical historic change from a planned economy to a free market one, from state-owned to privately owned. Today, the former colonel plays in Ukraine’s row of “first violinists” and is among the country’s oligarchs. Juri owns three sugar beet factories, is a Member of Parliament and advises the mayor of Odessa in economic and political matters.

“I wanted to treat my children.”

It was in the fall of 2007 when Juri Presnov visited the Bösendorfer piano factory in Wiener Neustadt, together with a group of oligarchs. They came to Austria to find new business opportunities; getting to know the “home of the Viennese piano sound” was their cultural agenda.

The smart businessman was thrilled with what he saw and heard at Bösendorfer: “Above all the piano builders’ great craftsmanship, their special emphasis on quality and of course, at the end of the production process, the touch with its full, warm sounds -- this was overwhelming to me.”

So overwhelming that the Ukrainian decided to acquire a Bösendorfer grand right then and there. “Unfortunately I don’t play an instrument myself, although my mother was a professional singer and pianist. But I wanted to surprise both my children, Vladislav and Polina, treat them and motivate them, and foster even more intensively their musical talent which they inherited from their grandmother. I view the acquisition of a Bösendorfer as an investment in the future, from which even my grandchildren and their children will still benefit.”

Industrialist, Member of Parliament and political adviser: Juri Presnov with his wife

Special model “Mozart”

In Wiener Neustadt, Juri decided on a model 214 grand piano of the special series “Mozart.” “I love Bach and primarily Mozart above all. Their music is cosmic for me. When I saw a portrait of Mozart incorporated into the music stand, I knew that out of all the beautiful instruments that I admired at Bösendorfer, it had to be this one.”

On the occasion of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthday, Bösendorfer presented a special limited edition in honor of the genius. Each of these grands bears the catalog number of one of Mozart’s 27 piano concertos. It is engraved onto the left key block and simultaneously guarantees the instrument’s uniqueness.

Known from the film: Potemkin Stairs in Odessa

“Cultivate your art.”

When I hear my children play the Bösendorfer today, when its tones sing throughout the house, I like to think back to the unforgettable visit to the piano factory. I still bow down to the magnificence and uniqueness of the Bösendorfer experts’ work. And I want to call out to them: ‘Do not lose your tradition. Cultivate your art. Carry it further. Continue to make people happy with the result of your work."