Musician strikes unique note

For the past six months, parishioners of St. John/St. Ann's Church in Albany have been listening to hymns played by a man with no religious affiliation whose musical career includes jazz groups, a symphony orchestra and a Methodist church.

And he was born in Russia.

Konstantin Tsykun plays the organ at weekend Masses, and works with choir members and cantors on selecting and rehearsing songs.

"I can play music at any level so, for me, it's not hard to play the music," he said. "I've played more complicated jazz music and in the symphony orchestra."

Born in Russia, Mr. Tsykun earned a degree in music with honors from Kirovograd School of Music in Ukraine. He also performed with the Odessa Opera Theater Symphony Orchestra and played jazz. Eight years ago, he came to Massachusetts and soon relocated to Albany, where he has relatives.

Mr. Tsykun had been music director at United Methodist Church in Troy for six years before switching to St. John/St. Ann's last February. He works part-time at the parish and also teaches music at Burnt Hills Music Academy.

Meeting with choir members ahead of time to plan music for rehearsals is one way he's tried to make the most of his hours each week. "It's much easier. Everybody knows in advance, so when we have rehearsal, we don't have to spend time trying to find music. We're ready," he said.

Mr. Tsykun, who doesn't belong to any religious denomination, doesn't see much difference between Catholic Masses and Protestant services, from a musical perspective.

The Mass is "a little different service than Methodist, but basically the music is the same," he said. "I try to improvise, but not too much. People like it when I improvise."

Working at St. John/St. Ann's also has taught him much about the faith of the parishioners who hear him play. "I'm learning about the Catholic faith. It's interesting because it's all new for me. In Russia, everything was prohibited. Here, there's more freedom," he said. (PQ)

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