Music Soirees in Church
St. Andrew’s Church, a splendid architectural site, currently part of the national St. Sofia’s Cathedral of Kyiv culture preserve, became a musical venue during the past summer theatrical and concert season.
Located in the historical center of Kyiv, attracting crowds of residents and numerous tourists, the church is also a concert hall with excellent acoustical characteristics. The luxurious iconostasis facing the audience (concerts are held every weekend) and the fantastic view opening from the upper flight of stairs leading to the temple serve best to set the music lovers’ mood anticipating listening to classical masterpieces. Small wonder that the audience is invariably filled to capacity, the more so that the performers are Kyiv’s leading soloists — Olha Mykytenko, Ivan Kucher, Svitlana Shabalina, and many others.
Eventually, the organizers decided to go further than solo and ensemble concerts. At one time, the church audience enjoyed the capital’s reputed Renaissance Orchestra (directed by Franz and Mitsnei), followed by music festivals dedicated to Dmytro Bortniansky, Mykola Lysenko, and a vocal soiree commemorating Kyreiko.
One of the concerts closing the season was dedicated to a piano duet. A snow-white Steinway seemed an immaculate component of St. Andrew’s interior. The program was diversified, including four hands piano compositions by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Kruh. The duet consisted of Oleksandra Zaitseva and Dmytro Tavanets, both graduate students at the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music (under Professors Riabov and Vorobiov).
Each of the young and undoubtedly gifted musicians had made his or her name. Zaitseva is the laureate of numerous international contests and festivals; she had on more than one occasion appeared in concerts in various Ukrainian cities and abroad. As a rule, she has included in her program the best samples of symphony piano music, meaning that she had played with numerous symphony orchestras. Dmytro Tavanets, prize winner of the 1995 and 1997 Horowitz contests, was now with the Kyiv Camerata ensemble of soloists, a performing group enjoying well-deserved acclaim inside Ukraine and out.
The two musicians entered a creative alliance several years ago and have since indefatigably polished their skill as a duet. This year they toured many European countries and Iran where, in addition to concerts, they conducted master classes. They have taken part in numerous contests and won this year’s CMF international duet contest in Paris. Schubert’s Fantasia in F Minor, Brahms’ waltzes (Op. 39) where the pianists turned out subtle interpreters of European classics, leaving the audience stunned with admiration. In Mendelssohn’s Andante with Variations, Zaitseva and Tavanets showed absolutely inspired virtuosity, conveying the composer’s innermost emotions. The variations on Mozart’s Magic Flute and Kruh’s six-hand compositions (seldom performed in Ukraine) were performed with Kyiv Conservatory Prof. Svitlana Shabaltina.
Concerts at St. Andrew’s are organized by the Ukrainian philharmonic society in collaboration with the St. Sofia national Preserve and Utel, a reputed company operating in Ukraine, under the motto, Music and Spirituality: How to Wake Up This World.
