These traditionally refined concerts are held, to the delight of music lovers, at the National Philharmonic Society in late May. This year’s forum started with An Evening in Verona, conducted by maestro Mykola Diadiura and featuring musicians of the Symphonic Philharmonic Orchestra as well as soloists of the National Opera of Ukraine Lilia Hrevtsova (soprano) and Andrii Romanenko (tenor). The program included a suite made of Sergei Prokofiev’s music for the ballet Romeo and Juliet, the Romeo and Juliet duet from Charles Gounod’s opera Romeo and Juliet, and Hector Berlioz’s suite Romeo and Juliet.
Guest from Spain, winner of various international competitions, guitarist Rafael Aguirre picked the festival’s baton on May 19 with his virtuoso performance of pieces by Isaac Albeniz, Mauro Giuliani, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Emilio Pujol, Pedro Elias Gutierrez, Jeronimo Gimenez, and George Gershwin. The evening was supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Ukraine.
On May 20, renowned Russian-Israeli pianist Yakov Kasman and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine with Volodymyr Sirenko at the conductor’s stand performed Concerto No. 3 by Nikolai Medtner and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. The festival program will be continued on May 21 by the Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, led by Heorhii Chernenko. This team has prepared a program consisting of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Steve Reich, Jan Sweelinck, Heorhii Chernenko, Serhii Khmeliov, Oleksandr Potiienko, and Minoru Miki. The final chord of the “Kyiv Spring 2015” will be struck by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem, to be performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society under Roman Kofman, the Credo Chamber Choir, led by Bohdan Plish, and soloists Maria Berezovska (alto), Ivanna Plish (soprano), Dmytro Ivanchenko (tenor), and Serhii Mahera (bass), who will dedicate their effort to the 154th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s reburial.
