Not often can the Ukrainian public can choose between things that are good, of top quality, and free of charge
Kyiv Music Fest, the twelfth forum of modern academic music, was quite eventful: 35 concerts at various Kyiv audiences, within the tight schedule of ten festival days often confronted the capital’s public with the painful choice between what was really good and superb.
Premieres certainly topped the list — but they were present at almost every Fest concert, including new works by Valentin Silvestrov, Yevhen Stankovych, Volodymyr Huba, Ihor Shcherbakov, Hanna Havrylets, Bohdana Filtz, Iryna Oleksiychuk, Mykola Koliada’s and Lev Kolodub’s premiere of The Five Poems for Symphony Orchestra. Yet the organizing committee also relied on young composers like Viktor Stepurko, Bohdana Pratsiuk, and Ivan Nebesny.
The festival’s most impressive event was religious choral music displayed at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra [Monastery of the Caves]. The opening rendition of “Big Lavra Tower Bells” by the Kyiv Bell Ringers Choir sounded truly symbolic; it seemed to build an energy bridge spanning past and modern realities, conveying to us the best and richest music and spiritual traditions. The Lavra’s very atmosphere added to the open-air performance by Kyiv’s five choirs. The Revutsky Male Choir (artistic director: Bohdan Antkiv) bewitched the audience with its voluminous inspired orchestration. There is no doubt the this choir is upholding the best traditions of Ukrainian choral culture. As always, the Kyiv Chamber Choir (artistic director: Mykola Hobdych) showed a masterful and profoundly emotional performance. In the end, the choirs appeared in a joint rendition at the newly restored Dormition Cathedral (Uspensky Sobor). The program included religious numbers ranging from medieval Kyiv compositions to modern pieces by Lesia Dychko, Bohdana Filtz, Viktor Stepuk, et al. The Vohnyk, Zirnytsia, and Bortniansky (Chernihiv) children’s choirs performed at the St. Michael’s Cathedral during the festival.
Numerous orchestras took part, of which the Kyiv Camerata National Ensemble of Soloists of Ukraine (artistic director: Valery Matiukhyn) worthily representing philosophic compositions by Valentin Silvestrov, Yevhen Stankovych, and Vitaly Hubarenko, deserve special notice. This “ensemble” has the rare skill of subtly perceiving and conveying the rich coloration of musical images that constantly change and vary in numerous interpretations. In the rendition of the Camerata one was made happy to hear an interpretation of chamber pieces by Karela Tsepkolenko, Iryna Kyrylina, Veronica Kafarova, Arvo Pjart (violin solo by Oana Zakharia), and other authors.
True delight was inspired in the listeners by the performance of Lviv’s female violinist, People’s Artiste of Ukraine Lidia Shutko who brilliantly performed several works by Dmitry Shostakovich, including an arrangement for two violins of his Spanish Dance in a duet with son Ostap. The audience also warmly received, at the same concert dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the birth of the great composer, the appearance of the guest from Russia, singer Tatiana Blinkova.
An inalienable component of the concept of Music Fest is the featuring of the latest developments in Ukrainian music within the context of world musical art. This year, too, saw quite a few new compositions contributed from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
This year’s festival expanded its scope, in terms of time and territory. The Vernissage of Art took place in Chernihiv on the World Day of Music, in which Kyiv musicians — pianists Ihor Savchuk, Vladimir Horowitz laureate Oleksandr Chuhai, and violinist Anatoly Bazhenov — took part. The city also hosted an exhibit of music, manuscripts including the famous Bach Collection courtesy of the Central Archives at the Literature and Art Museum. On November 4, the National Philharmonic Society will hold a round table and concert dedicated to the musical masterpieces of the baroque period, saved during World War II and stored in Ukraine. In a word, we have in the offing new meetings with the art of music. As always with this festival, admission is free.
