Canada’s Own ‘Complete Unknown’ – Local Teenage Prodigy Takes on Montreal
On August 10th, Mono’s Taras Petryk gave a spectacular concert at Windrush Estate Winery. Like “A Complete Unknown”, the recent film about Bob Dylan’s rise to fame, this concert gave people a chance to see Petryk before predicted world acclaim.
Petryk, 17, who graduated from ODSS high school in June with a 99% average, intuitively creates strikingly original, soulful music.
“Truly,” comments Windrush co-owner, Marilyn Field, MSM, “this was a ‘goosebump concert’; a star is born. His piano works spoke of life itself with its many nuances. Then he picked up the guitar.” Adds Petryk, “I’ve played several piano concerts, but this was the first time I wrote lyrics, composed for guitar, performed guitar, and sang.”
Field’s response? “I knew it would be brilliant, but I was shocked how brilliant it was – lyrically and musically so sophisticated, yet so natural, so mature. How can someone’s first song be a masterpiece?”
Field helps empower vulnerable kids through Windrush’s national charity youthLEADarts. After meeting Petryk and hearing him play, Field took a personal interest in helping foster his talent. Two years ago, inspired by his mother Michelle Grierson’s novel Becoming Leidah, he composed six pieces for piano on the theme of water. On Mother’s Day, 2023, he premiered these at Chateau Windrush as a surprise gift for Grierson. That summer, he recorded these and five more at Windrush as his first album. (You can stream them from platforms like Spotify and YouTube or download them from Bandcamp).
“Marilyn is a bottle of joy,” says Petryk, who performed a song he had composed on her piano for her as part of this concert, entitled “M.” “She’s just out there, inspiring everyone around her. She’s so gracious and generous and grandiose. I feel like that piece captured that. My piece has huge cadences and a grandiose theme that repeats over and over, swirling and getting more intense and more out there, and it just feels very Marilyn.”
Petryk also credits the nature of his surrounding environment as having helped grow his talent. “In 2023, I started composing. The first time I ever composed a piece I walked out into the forest; I felt like I needed to be among the trees. I sat with this one tree that just felt very right. I returned to the house [with] this two-minute song that just came out of me into the piano! Often, I end up walking out in nature and kind of receiving.”
Last month, Petryk headlined at the Collingwood Music Festival as a Rising Star. Next month, he joins opera singers in Toronto at a charity event for orphans of war. Before then, next week, he moves to Montreal to pursue a Bachelor of Music at Concordia University.
“Concordia’s Composition stream just felt right to me. Other universities’ music programs focus on theory and performance; I want to use those foundations to create. This program is very experimental,” continues Petryk, who says he was also drawn to its music history curriculum that includes more eclectic influences like David Bowie and Indian music.
“It’s a broader horizon,” summarizes Petryk. ““Experimental” gives me the go-ahead to explore what I want without any genre restrictions. I want to be as expressive as I can and push things into new territory.”
Literally new territory will be living and composing in Montreal.
“Every phase of my life seems to have a different feel and a different vibe. The pieces I’m composing now definitely have a different maturity to them. And Montreal will take me to another level. I’m not used to being in a community of musicians – collaborating and living with musicians. We’ll see what that brings, but I’m very excited.”
