Musical Breakthrough to the West
Despite the calamities raging in Central Europe (floods in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria), Berlin effectively hosted its regular festival of youth symphony orchestras. For the first time the organizing committee invited the student symphony orchestra of the Ukrainian National Academy of Music, directed by Prof. Roman Kofman, People’s Artiste of Ukraine.
The preparations required months of strenuous work, as the orchestra musicians had to rehearse the program both during the academic year and in summer when Kyiv was exposed to suffocating heat. The young performers passed the ordeal with honors, completing a most sophisticated program: Valentyn Sylvestrov’s Symphony No. 6, Myroslav Skoryk’s Carpathian Concerto for the Symphony Orchestra, and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto (soloist: Mykhailo Danchenko).
Orchestra musicians say that Sylvestrov’s extremely difficult composition was received by the Berlin audience with marked enthusiasm. The symphony contains a number of musical images and challenges the performers with its versatility of compositional discoveries, unusual timbres, and colorful effects. Mykhailo Danchenko, playing Rachmaninoff’s most sophisticated concerto with the orchestra, was a special success. In the finale, the encoring and cheering audience just would not let him and Roman Kofman leave the stage.
On that particular occasion Berlin music lovers could compare the professional skill of numerous European young people’s orchestras from France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Sweden, Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, and, of course, Germany. Mixed international orchestras also took part.
Maestro Kofman is not only a gifted conductor and arranger but is also a capable organizer. The Kyiv students rode to Germany in two comfortable buses (the orchestra numbers ninety musicians), stayed at a good hotel, and were served more than adequate meals (courtesy of sponsors found well in advance).
The Ukrainian symphony orchestra’s success in Berlin was part of Roman Kofman’s broad creative offensive on the West. This year he signed a contract with the symphony orchestra of Bonn and with the local opera providing for five year creative cooperation). He will work as the Bonn orchestra’s director general of music.
Actually, the Ukrainian conservatory students hope that our man in Bonn will remain in charge of their orchestra, that he will find the time to teach and perform at home and abroad.
