Music legends
First Ukrainian-American festival at the National Philharmonic
The festival organizers offered a very interesting program filled with the finest works by famous composers from the US and Ukraine, performed by well-known musicians and singers. “Masterworks of the New Era” is the name of the concert aimed at acquainting audiences with the symphonic picture Little Circus by Maks Simonchych, Concerto Gaucho for trumpet with orchestra by Kevin Walczyk and Oedipus Requiem based on Sophocles by Robert Ian Winstin (USA). Trumpeter Yurii Kornilov, tenor Mykola Shuliak, soprano Ivanna Plish, mezzo-soprano Tetiana Havrylenko, the Kyiv Chamber Choir (conducted by Mykola Hobdych) the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (conducted by Volodymyr Sirenko) performed at the soiree led by conductor Robert Winstin.
The program for May 18 was called “Ukrainians for Ukrainians,” featuring the symphonic ballad Grazhyna by Borys Liatoshynsky, the Concerto for violin with orchestra no. 1 by Myroslav Skoryk (soloist Oleh Krysa), and Symphony no. 2 Red Land by Virko Balei, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, with Taras Krysa (USA) conducting.
The concert “American Classics of the 20th Century” introduced Kyivites and guests of the city to works by Henry Hadley, Benjamin Lees, Paul Creston, and Aaron Copland, which were performed by Ukrainian musicians. The soloists were the Americans Elmar Oliveira and Grammy 2007 prizewinner John McLaughlin Williams.
The last concert of the festival, which ended on Sunday, May 20, was a soiree entitled “Musical Legends of Hollywood and Broadway.” Works by Leonard Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Goldsmith, Richard Rodgers, Klaus Badelt, Franz Waxman, Claude-Michel Schonberg, and Miklos Rozsa sounded in the interpretation of singers Katherine Dietz and Trevor Mitchell, accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (Robert Winstin conducting).
This international creative project was made possible thanks to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the management of the philharmonic, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and diplomats from the US Embassy in Ukraine.
