Connoisseurs Conquered by Tenderness

Now after a series of excellent concerts even skeptics have to admit that Lviv's is not just an elite show but an example of faultless organization. The Day's Yaryna KOVAL asked the project's originators Serhiy Proskurnia, stage director, Markiyan Ivashchyshyn, director of the Art Association Dzyha, and Mariya Krushelnytska, rector of Lviv's Mykola Lysenko Higher School of Music, to comment on the results and prospects of this original project.

Mariya KRUSHELNYTSKA:

Once Lviv saw and heard Richter, Kogan, Oistrakh, and other outstanding musicians. Now there is total void. The Philharmonic is barely alive. In this sense the project deserves every praise, because we can now hear prominent modern performers and the packed audience shows how badly the public needs real art.

Serhiy PROSKURNIA:

I can see this project more broadly. As an art producer, I wanted to create an event that would not only interest the public, but also stimulate the creative environment, like a stone hurled in still water.

Markiyan IVASHCHYSHYN:

We had many doubts starting on the projects. We weren't sure that the key figures would agree to come. Orchestra conductor Roman Kofman and stage director Serhiy Proskurnia did their utmost to convince the world-caliber performers to cast aside business considerations and come to Lviv. The project shows that economic hardships and overall misery notwithstanding, certain positive steps can be taken in the cultural domain.

The Day: Were all the performers visiting Lviv true "art grandees?"

M. I.: You see, there is a certain professional level and certain illusion, but both are important. We may have overstated some of the names, yet it was thanks to these concerts that we discovered new names and saw and heard new musicians. And I mean Ukrainian performers. Take Ihor Ishchak from Kyiv who was encored more than any of the Western guest stars. There he was playing before or after world-renowned musicians receiving sky-high fees and we all realized that we do have talent at home matching theirs.

The Day: Weren't you surprised by Lviv's public when they greeted the end of every concert with standing ovation? I mean wasn't this indiscriminate?

M. K.: Personally I find this standing ovation a strange and unintelligible tradition. Certainly, we are very hospitable, we want everybody to be happy.

M. I.: If concert life were more active in Lviv we would have a basis for discussion. As it is, the project and the guest performers are treated like something very unusual, exotic. And the publicity, of course. The posters read art grandees. Lviv is a very conservative city. Few are capable of professional criticism, even less so when the audience is saturated with emotions. On the other hand, every Lviv native is flattered to see a world-renowned performer on the city stage. In fact, this undemanding enthusiasm has its advantages. Gideon Kramer gave four concerts in Ukraine, two in Lviv and two in Kyiv, something unusual for him, for he usually tours a country with only one concert. He made an exception for Ukraine, because here one is in a real, not illusory atmosphere. The performers do not live in a five-star hotel in Lviv and are served at the Vavilon, a creative youth hangout. And the experience proved very useful for the guest stars. What I mean is, the creative elite has a touch of snobbism all over the world. Everywhere except Lviv, for here one finds oneself in a warm truly sincere atmosphere. And the Western stars were pleased to be treated as just good performers, not moneymaking machines.