Vitalij Kuprij

Vitalij Kuprij, born in 1974 in Volodarka, Kiev, Ukraine, earned multiple awards for his keyboard prowess while exploring an array of styles that ranged from classical to progressive rock. Early on he claimed first prize at the All-Union Chopin Competition in the Republic of Kazan, Soviet Union, and captured the top award at the Geneva Duo Competition for Violin and Piano; Ukrainian radio and television also broadcast his performances of concertos by Beethoven and Chopin. At 16 he departed Ukraine, and in 1993 he assembled Atlantis Rising—his first prog-metal outfit—with guitarist Roger Staffelbach. After settling in the U.S. in 1995 the group transformed into Artension, secured a contract with Mike Varney’s Shrapnel label, and delivered the albums Into the Eye of the Storm (1996), Phoenix Rising (1997), Forces of Nature (1999), and Machine (2000). Kuprij simultaneously issued solo recordings on the same imprint: High Definition (1997), Extreme Measures (1998), VK3 (1999), and Plays the Works of Liszt and Chopin: Piano (2001). He appeared with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and, in 2001, founded Ring of Fire alongside former Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Mark Boals. In 2009 he joined the keyboard chair for the classically influenced rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Vitalij Kuprij died on February 21, 2024, at the age of 49.