A contest for the best composition commemorating Ivan Karabyts was held at the Gliere College of Music in Kyiv, as part of the Shevchenko March Festival in Kyiv.
For over thirty years of creative life, Ivan Karabyts wrote a large number of instrumental pieces. Some, recalling his name, will mention his ballet Bohatyrska Symfoniya [Hero Symphony], others will lovingly mention his musical Nich Chudes [The Night of Miracles], still others will marvel at his symphonic works (concertos, oratorios, piano compositions). Too bad we were not generous with praise during his lifetime, although we knew all to well that his symphony Five Songs about Ukraine and concertos Garden of Divine Songs and Singing, Our Pride were our national pride, now listed among the world classics. Karabyts’s works were performed all over Ukraine, at the most prestigious concert halls of Austria, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, US, France... In 1994, his Solemn Cantata, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in North America, was performed at Carnegie Hall. Ivan Karabyts had tremendous organizing talent, establishing the Kyiv Kamerata Ensemble, arranging for the cutting of ten CDs with contemporary Ukrainian music. He revived the Summer Music Soirees, so popular in Kyiv at the turn of the nineteenth century. He headed the jury of the Horowitz International Contest of Young Pianists and was Kyiv Music Fest art director.
“The first contest in Ivan’s memory coincided with his first anniversary of his death,” says the composer’s widow Marianna Karabyts, Tchaikovsky Music Academy professor. Among the contestants were young composers and students with composer talent from other departments. This year, there were fifteen contestants. The jury awarded nine students. Interesting, original compositions were submitted by Nazar Burniakov (piano), Artem Kuzmenko and Kateryna Ryshchepa (vocal). Gliere students proved the first to have adopted a creative approach to the commemoration of Ivan Karabyts. A while later, the music school in Artemivsk, his alma mater, also responded. They called me a month ago and said the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had signed a directive naming the music school for Karabyts. I went there with Myroslav Skoryk in February. We were guests of yet another contest dedicated to Ivan Karabyts, a very representative forum of young pianists. It was interesting because it was original. We all know that there are all sorts of contests, especially piano ones, and that few are impressed by them. The one held in Artemivsk was meant to advertise and encourage contemporary Ukrainian composers.
“In the last couple of decades of his life Ivan spent much time and energy supporting young talent. He was a professor of the National Music Academy and had excellent students.”
Every composer is very individual writing music. How did Ivan Karabyts work?
Marianna: He always created music quietly. Our children and me would now and then hear a muted sound. As a rule, he wrote music relying on his inner hearing; he would write the score at once. Conceiving another composition, he would be reluctant to share his plans; he would show us his work only when committed to paper. He treated every composition still in his mind the way one plants and tends flowers, afraid someone else might inadvertently damage a stem and then the bud wouldn’t open or would wither away. He had few whose opinion he treasured, among them Valentyn Sylvestrov and Serhiy Krymsky.
How did he feel about his son Kyrylo and daughter Ivanna deciding to take up music?
Marianna: We made sure our children would study and receive an education, we made no plans for music. We wanted them to grow up well-educated, intellectual. They studied at ordinary grade schools. We didn’t mean for them to become professional musicians. Kyrylo studied at the children’s studio of the conservatory and we had him transferred to a music school when he was in his seventh grade, so he would be issued a certificate. Eleonora Vynohradova told us we should pay attention to his talent. She was an excellent teacher and acted as our guardian angel (God rest her soul). In fact, she was angry with Ivan, saying you have a brilliant son, so what in the world are you doing, either you let him vent his talent or take him out of school. After that we had Kyrylo enrolled in a special music school. They assigned him to a class one year junior, but in the course of study he caught up with his coevals and even got ahead of them. Our daughter studied at School No. 32. Now she is in her second year at the National Music Academy of Ukraine; she wants to be a music critic. She has several reviews carried by periodicals. Ivanna will continue the dynasty, on the mother’s side. She has my father’s talent. I mean Kapitsa, a writer and journalist.
Kyrylo is a professional conductor, performing in Ukraine and in France.
Marianna: He works for the National Orchestra of Radio France. I was happy to learn recently that Kyrylo had been offered a contract making him a standing touring conductor with the Symphony Orchestra of Strasbourg, the oldest in Europe. Too bad Kyrylo does not often perform in Kyiv. He conducted the Pagliacci premiere two years ago, then a long pause taking years. A month ago, the National Opera offered him to rejuvenate Eugene Onegin, but when he did they thought it wasn’t good enough, but Kyrylo had actually breathed a new life into the production and made it reveal new shining facets. Anyway, the audience liked it.
Ivan Karabyts actually made the Horowitz contest a prestigious event in Ukraine and Kyiv has since attracted young musicians from many countries. Last year, its winners performed in UNESCO and UN audiences. What about his other child, Kyiv Music Fest?
Marianna: The fifteenth fest will be held this year. Alas, it will be the third without Ivan taking part. At present, the Kyiv Music Fest is directed by Myroslav Skoryk who has been painstakingly implementing all of Ivan’s plans. And we have a rival company, Season Premieres. They have been making use and arranging for themselves much of what we’ve had in our festivals. Although they have an idea of their own. Premieres. Anyway, it looks as though the Season PremiОres have decided to follow in our footsteps. I was amazed to hear their organizing committee state that they will be the first in Ukraine to stage Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Sorry, but Kyrylo had previously staged the opera with the Kyiv Kamerata, with Anatoly Bazhenov playing first violin. The violin part is incredibly complex; actually, the whole story is based on it. However, our music “friends” severely criticized the rendition. Now, several years later, those same ill-wishers are out with the Soldier, claiming it is their first original interpretation of Stravinsky’s composition. What can I say? I’m sure, however, that our Kyiv Music Fest will live on and gladden the hearts of our devotees, presenting various interesting programs and gifted performers, discovering new names, preserving memories of old ones, helping fresh talent reveal itself.
