One of the most interesting cultural events of the season has just ended. This year’s Kyiv Music Fest, a forum for modern academic music featuring the latest developments in Ukrainian and world music life, introduced more than 200 composers, 40 events, and 80 world and Ukrainian premieres. Among them were 24 Caprices for a Large Symphony Orchestra by Niccolo Paganini and Myroslav Skoryk, Ihor Shcherbakov’s cantata to Lina Kostenko’s lyrics The Sign of Eternity, Ivan Karabyts’s Vocal Cycle to Rabindranath Tagore’s Lyrics, and many other compositions.
AN AUDIENCE FULL OF LIKE-MINDED ADMIRERS: IS THIS GOOD OR BAD?
The week-long music fest featured symphonies, chamber music, choral performances, and jazz and solo concerts, as well as a scholarly conference on the “Music of the Third Millennium: Trends and Prospects,” a concert and master class by Boguslaw Schaeffer, thanks to the Polish Institute in Kyiv, and other interesting events. For the first time in our country Ukrainian audiences had the opportunity to hear works by the American composers D. L. Zaiman, Lisa Dillon, Elaine Jorgensen, and G. Reese, as well as works by the contemporary German composers Ziegfried Borris, Friedrich Bruckmann, and Ortwin Benninghoff. These concerts took place within the framework of the Musical Dialogs “Ukraine-US” (thanks to the US Embassy in Ukraine) and “Ukraine- Germany.” These compositions were performed by the modern music ensemble Maxima, directed by Maksym Kuzin, and the Kyiv Chamber Academy Orchestra conducted by Ortwin Benninghoff. Works by our celebrated classics Borys Liatoshynsky, Lev Revutsky, and Ivan Karabyts were also performed. The audience was captivated by the works of such modern Ukrainian composers as Myroslav Skoryk, Valentyn Sylvestrov, Yevhen Stankevych, Lesia Dychko, Ihor Shamo, and representatives of the so-called middle generation: Iryna Aleksiychuk, Hanna Havrylets, Vadym Zhuravytsky, Serhiy Piliutykov, Volodymyr Runchak, Viktor Stepurko, Ivan Taranenko, Karmella Tsepkolenko, Volodymyr Shumeiko, and Ihor Shcherbakov. Works by the brilliant masters of the past — Bela Bartok, Alexander Comitas, Gustav Mahler, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alban Berg, and Alfred Schnittke — were performed by top-notch Ukrainian musicians and guest performers.
Apart from the guest stars, Kyiv’s largest performing companies, including the National Symphony of Ukraine, the President’s Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, Kyiv Kamerata Ensemble, Dumka Choir, Credo Chamber Orchestra, Vydubychi Church Choir, and many others, took part in the festival. A chamber concert commemorating Arvo Part’s 70th birthday was held in the framework of the “Ukraine-Estonia Musical Dialog.” Part’s compositions were performed along with works by celebrated Ukrainian composers, like Stankevych and Sylvestrov. The last page of the KMF guidebook, which helped music lovers get their bearings during the festival, described the “Tchaikovsky Fest” commemorating the Russian classic’s 165th anniversary: the ensemble Kyivan Soloists, conducted by Bohodar Kotorovych, launched the opening of the concert season in the Great Hall of the National Music Academy of Ukraine.
The audience especially enjoyed a symphony concert by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine conducted by Volodymyr Sirenko. The musicians brilliantly performed Slavic Suite by Borys Liatoshynsky, patriarch of the national school of composing, while Ivan Kucher gave a superb performance of Hennadiy Liashenko’s cello concerto. The Hall of Columns at the National Philharmonic Society was packed, mostly with people working in the music field: composers, music critics, performers, and journalists. An audience filled with like-minded admirers: is this good or bad?
Of course it’s good. It is pleasant for a performer to play before a packed auditorium. It is equally enjoyable for a composer to listen to his music together with numerous listeners. On the other hand, his colleagues’ attention is only one-half of a composer’s professional success. The other half, which is still lacking in Ukraine today, is attention from the audience, plain old music lovers. The Kyiv Music Fest’s popularity is an illustration of the phrase “broad popularity in narrow circles.”
LACK OF ADVERTISING MEANS THE FESTIVAL SEEMS TO EXIST ON ANOTHER PLANET
Here’s a paradox: a festival is underway for a week. It gathers the most noteworthy and diverse ensembles that perform in Kyiv’s best halls, even in churches. The festival is an event discussed at length in music circles, but the average resident of the capital is barely aware of it. There was very little advertising in the media. So the festival seems to exist in a different dimension or a parallel world without intersecting life in Kyiv. This is happening at a time when the residents of other Ukrainian cities, who are far from the riches of the capital’s cultural life, can only dream of visiting the Kyiv Music Fest to find some respite from all that pop music.
Viewers who have attended KMF concerts at least once always look forward to another. The festival’s programs are diversified and listeners can choose a concert to their liking. For example, the Small Hall of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy resounded with organ, piano, chamber instrumental music, and singing.
A chamber ensemble is a special branch of musical art. The artistic and technical equality of each part of such an ensemble makes it one of the most complete forms of self-expression for a musician. In an ensemble, stage cooperation does not interfere at all with the spectacular expression of the individuality of every member. The very titles of the musical pieces (Ad astra, Chronometer, Inscriptions on the Water) set the audience’s imagination on fire. This concert premiered Ivan Karabyts’s Preludes and Toccata for Piano, masterfully performed by Borys Demenko. His performance combined penetratingly beautiful, almost vocal, sound with compelling conviction and a virtuoso range.
Another premiere produced a strong impression: Ivan Karabyts’s vocal cycle set to the lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore. The bewitching song transported the audience to the poetic and colorful Orient or another parallel dimension altogether. The concert triptych for organ, Ad Astra, by Petrychenko, overwhelmed the audience with its power, rich timbral effects, and sound colors, while Aleksiychuk presented her usual enchanting and absolutely remarkable music. Despite the diverse and dramatic images in her works, the overall impression is somehow always transparent.
This year’s festival featured the Polish composer Romuald Twardowski’s trio. It was interesting to spot the specific national features in this charming music, which are hard to discern in modern music, as time has almost erased the distinctive features from the cultures of different peoples, especially neighboring ones.
Today many composers and musicians are hard put to show their creativity to the general public. This is why every minute of a festival that showcases little-known music is so precious. For a performing musician cooperation is priceless, as are collaborative efforts with a living modern composer. An undeniable bonus of the KMF is a project to create video and audio archives. All the unique novelties of modern academic music and seldom-performed works may soon become available in the form of recordings.
An enchanting performance combining music, choreography, meditation, and a happening took place at the Theater in the Podil district of Kyiv. A concert by the Polish-Austrian composer Boguslaw Schaeffer took place in a packed hall. Schaeffer, who is 76, was born in Lviv and studied composition under Arthur Malawski and Zdzislaw Jachimecki, who was a pupil of Arnold Schenberg. The composer, who has a doctorate, is the author of several books on new music, including the textbooks Introduction to Composition, regarded as the modern composer’s handbook, and History of Music. He is the author of more than 400 musical works and 29 plays that have been staged in many Polish cities and abroad, from Oslo to Madrid. Schaeffer is the recipient of numerous music awards and is a professor of composition at the Hochschule fur Musik in Salzburg, Austria. He also founded his own publishing house, Kolsch Edition. Schaeffer’s graphic works have been displayed in Vienna and Paris. The holder of all these distinguished titles and regalia is also a wonderful maestro and a charming personality, rejoicing like a little boy in his success and jumping up and down in time to the ovations.
Marek Choloniewski’s electronic media produced an unforgettable impression with his synthesized music. A graduate of the Krakow Academy of Music, he is one of Schaeffer’s pupils. Since 1976 he has worked at the Studio of Electroacoustic Music and is currently a professor of music at this institution of higher learning. Choloniewski is the founder of several music societies, a teacher, composer, and performer of live computer music, and the creator of computerized audio-video projects. Choloniewski writes instrumental and computer music for the theater, cinema, and radio.
The entire performance looked phantasmagorical, and the audience was in nirvana from the lighting effects. The actors simply invited people from the audience to take part in the performance, and the small size of the Theater in the Podil helped combine the events happening on stage with real life. You could stretch out your hand and touch the actors. The members of the audience who looked at the music score used by Schaeffer saw colorful pictures and chimerical graphic designs. A pair of ballet dancers, A. Chemikos and A. Korneva, made the “Poetry” for the magnetic tape even more poetic, colorful, and saturated with meaning. The audience loved Schaeffer’s short dramatic play Fragment III for musicians, performed by Theater in the Podil actors Ihor Volkov and Serhiy Boiko. This witty play has a philosophical context and is filled with musicological contemplations. The audience, composed mainly of fellow musicians, completely understood the play, which features two actors accompanied by clarinet, cello, piano, and synthesized music. The concert left everyone with the impression that they had just seen a bit of sorcery or a mystification.
JAZZ BRIGHTENS UP THE FEST
Jazz music was another important component of the festival, which showcased a concert commemorating the poet Vasyl Symonenko (directed by V. Lukashov). The show featured the jazz duo of Olha Voichenko (vocals) and Serhiy Kapeliushok (guitar); Serhiy Bedusenko, Viacheslav and Tymur Polyansky (piano); Volodymyr Shpudeiko (jazz tap dancing), the Kyiv Sax Quartet, and Serhiy Khmeliov. Despite the fact that the concert began at 22:00, the hall was packed. Judging by the mood of the audience, which was thrilled to be there, all the popular numbers were played like encores. There were world-famous hits played on the piano, the charm of jazz vocalism, the inimitable guitar timbre, and an appearance by the virtuoso Shpudeiko. This jazz tap dance prodigy brought half of the audience members to their feet so that they wouldn’t miss a single one of his steps. The listeners gave a warm welcome to the sax quartet, which sounded like a complete orchestra.
The public was thrilled with the festival and its performers.
MUSICAL DIALOGS
“Musical Dialogs” were held within the festival’s framework, along with meetings, debates, and master classes. The Kyiv Music Programs focused special attention on works by Ukrainian composers. Together with such masters as Skoryk, Sylvestrov, Stankovych, Dychko, and others, works by the middle and younger generations were also performed, including Aleksiychuk, Havrylets, Laniuk, Stepurko, Hrechko, Kuzin, and Sehin. These composers, representing several generations, are very different, and they range from noted maestros and mature experimenters to bold young composers, who are turning traditions, customs, and devices on their head. After all, music is not divided into classical and modern, but into good and bad, live and dead music.
The festival ended with a gala concert featuring the Dumka Choir, directed by Yevhen Savchuk, with Bohdana Stelmashenko (flute), Larysa Kadyrova (reciter), and H. Bulybenko (organ). The program consisted entirely of new works. Such large-scale works as V. Bybyk’s From Light and Quiet flute concerto, Viktor Stepurko’s O, My God (a requiem cantata set to Vasyl Stus’s lyrics for a tenor soloist, mixed choir, narrator, symphony orchestra, and organ), and Sviatoslav Lunev’s Tutti for a large symphony orchestra were performed for the first time.
The Kyiv Music Fest’s greatest achievement is showcasing music that is seldom heard or premiering just composed works. The festival always features the freshest and newest music.
