As this year the festival was held for the third time, it is safe to say about a developing tradition. The purpose of the action is to revive cultural ties between Ukraine and Poland. The festival was organized by Historical and Cultural Complex Castle-Museum “Radomysl” and the Embassy of Poland in Ukraine; it was supported by the Polish Institute in Kyiv and charitable social platform “People Help People.” “Chopin’s Music in the Open Air” was ideologically inspired by Olha Bohomolets, founder of Radomysl Castle-Museum, MP, philanthropist, famous doctor, and singer.
Interestingly, it was raining plentifully when we left Kyiv – and we all had hoped for the good weather. Turns out art has tremendous power! As soon as the concert started on the Island of Love, which is located within the Radomysl Castle-Museum’s landscape park, rays of sunlight began to break through clouds. The works of the brilliant Polish composer were performed by outstanding musicians and talented youth. The first to demonstrate their skill were soloists of the National Philharmonic Society: Larysa Deordiieva and Inesa Poroshyna; after them, the piano, which had been installed on the platform outdoor, was taken by a 17-year-old musician, star of the new generation and Dortmund Conservatory student, Yevhen Motorenko. Best students from music schools of Kyiv and Zhytomyr continued the musical marathon.
Deordiieva began the musical program and the whole festival with the Grand Valse Brillante. The audience was fascinated with Motorenko’s masterful performance of Chopin’s Fantasy and his two classic etudes.
HONORARY GUESTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL “CHOPIN’S MUSIC IN THE OPEN AIR” – DIPLOMATS ACCREDITED IN UKRAINE
Motorenko surprised with power and sensuality of the performance; his dedication is overwhelming and mesmerizing; the fineness and depth of his play amazes music connoisseurs. Yevhen is the winner of many international competitions, a graduate of the Mykola Lysenko Kyiv Specialized Music School. He performs interesting solo projects; many times as well he was accompanied by a symphony orchestra. He studied in the class of Professor Natalia Hrydnieva at National Music Academy, and in the fall he will continue his education in Germany. The musician’s mother, famous singer Inna Halatenko, has started a fundraising effort to pay for her son’s hostel (350 Euros are required every month). Ovations and cries of “bravo” were heard after each performance of this talented young man.
The outdoor concerts have left no one indifferent: both, the dedicated festival guests and the many tourists visiting Radomysl Castle-Museum. Henryk Litwin, the Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine (whose term in the country expires this year) invited many representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in our country, including the ambassadors of Japan, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Turkey, as honorary guests.
“It was a celebration of music,” said the Ambassador Henryk Litwin. “I’m sure the festival will have good fortune and will be continued every summer, and the best pianists of our time will compete for the honor to perform in it.”
YEVHEN MOTORENKO, 17-YEAR-OLD MUSICIAN, STAR OF THE NEW GENERATION, AND NOW STUDENT AT DORTMUND CONSERVATORY
Olha Bohomolets admitted that it was 20 years ago in Warsaw when she heard the works of Chopin performed outdoor, in the park, as the audience was sitting on the grass, for the first time. Since then, she could not forget the impromptu concerts. “From that time I had dreamt that our country would have the brilliant works by Chopin performed outdoor – and thus our festival was born. Next year we will have the event on even larger scale. We want to have a qualifying round across music schools and academies, so that the winners would perform in Radomysl. This year our festival has presented a charitable social platform for assistance to families of those killed in the ATO zone – People Help People. The funds raised at the festival will be donated to the soldiers’ families.”
“The heritage of Frederic Chopin is invaluable! The composer’s mazurkas and polonaises, etudes and waltzes, nocturnes and preludes are loved throughout the world. Chopin’s music went far beyond Poland. It is performed by great musicians; it is used for training by novice performers,” says Lesia Oliinyk, art historian. “Music by Chopin captivates the listeners with its spirituality, elegance, but at the same time it is patriotic, revolutionary, and romantic. I recall that during the Revolution of Dignity, the great music of the Polish composer and patriot had been played on Maidan. The famous Revolutionary Etude (Opus 10 No. 12) had inspired Ukrainians to fight the dictatorial regime.”
Chopin’s music is still topical today, when Ukraine is struggling with the Russian aggression in the east, and the soldiers in the ATO zone sacrifice their lives to defend our homeland and preventing the outbreak of Third World War...
RADOMYSL CASTLE-MUSEUM IS AN ARCHITECTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND CULTURAL JEWEL OF POLISSIA
“Chopin’s Music in the Open Air” has a special mission – to popularize the composer, thereby strengthening the long-time friendship and cultural ties between the peoples of Poland and Ukraine, which have many years of shared history.
Radomysl Castle-Museum is an architectural, historical, and cultural jewel of Polissia. Back in 1612, a fortified manufacture was built in this place that produced paper for printing at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
The centerpiece of Radomysl Castle-Museum is the museum of Ukrainian domestic icon, which has more than 5,000 items of Christian art from 17th to 20th centuries. It presents icons of folk and professional painters, large-scale home iconostases, Hutsul complexes and Cossack arks, travel images; it has icons, carved from wood, cast of metal, painted on glass. The exhibition “Soul of Ukraine” is the richest Christian display in Ukraine, and the Museum is the largest museum of icons in Eastern Europe!
