Vitalij Kuprij

[TSOd]

Vitalij Kuprij passed away Feb 20 2024 of a heart attack at age 49. Gone too soon. He studied in his native Ukraine Switzerland and the Curtis Institute in the USA. The Curtis Institute is more prestigious than Julliard. His teacher was Gary Grafman a professional concert pianist in his own right. I have seen videos of Vitalij at the Curtis Institute and with symphony orchestras. Vitalij recorded an album of Chopin and Liszt music. He also has a wonderful neo-classical/contemporary album of original piano music '12 Months of the Year.' Prog/Rock was his main focus with quite a few albums. I have the 'Forward and Beyond' because it has some of the music he played with TSO as his solos. I saw Vitalij when he started with the East 2009? and played the second half and 2 years/3 shows BLN 2011 once /2012 twice. Luckily I have his autograph from 2011. At the final  BLN in 2012 my wife spoke to him in Russian at the meet and greet. He was so surprised he almost jumped over the table. Rest in Peace Maestro. As the Russians say: Memory Eternal. Vitalij was laid to rest in Pennsylvania. He leaves two relatives his  "significant other" Vanessa  and his pets. There is/was a Go Fund Me page to help defray funeral expenses since Vitlaij had no life insurance.