This cycle continues the jubilee “Kyiv Seasons.” Reviving the form of traditional musical evenings, the “Seasons” organizers with their actions want to draw the audience’s attention to the creative work of outstanding composers, whose names were closely connected with Ukraine. The cycle of concerts to the 170th anniversary of Pyotr Tchaikovsky has already been held, and the current “Kyiv Season” is dedicated to the memory of Sergei Prokofiev (to the composer’s 120th anniversary).
Let us recall that Prokofiev spent the first 13 years of his life in the village of Sontsivka (now Krasne village in Donetsk region), which he called “his homeland.” There he began his music lessons and made his first attempts in composition. In 1916 he had concerts in Kyiv, organized by Reinhold Gliere, then in 1927 and 1934 the composer-pianist performed with great success not only in Kyiv, but also in Odesa and Kharkiv. The Ukrainian theme is traced in many Prokofiev’s works, starting from his Scythian Suite, ballet On the Dnipro, film Kotovsky, and ending with the piano piece Dumka.
Today, Prokofiev’s symphonic and chamber-instrumental music sounds in our capital’s concert halls, his scenic masterpieces are performed in theaters, and series of lectures on films with the composer’s music are held at the cinema hall of Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC). The cycle “December Evenings” will take place within the “Season.” The concerts are dedicated “To the memory of the composer” by the students of Lysenko Special Music School, R. Gliere Kyiv Institute of Music and P. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, as well as by leading performing collectives. Among them is the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, which will perform all five piano concertos by Sergei Prokofiev on December 8 at the National Philharmonic Society (the soloist is the famous pianist Oleg Polyansky, Russia-Germany).
The authors of the “Kyiv Seasons” project are the director of RCSC cultural and educational programs Liudmyla Chyzhova and Secretary General of the National Committee of International Music Council, musicologist Lesia Oliinyk. The organizers are the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Kyiv and the Ukrainian National Committee of International Music Council with the assistance of Embassy of Russian Federation to Ukraine.
The cycle of programs will be opened by the POST SKRIPTUM quartet. The musicians will perform the composer’s famous works on December 2 in RCSC – violin sonatas (op. 115 and op. 56) and String Quartet No. 1 (the soloist is Sonia Suldina), and the evenings of classical music will be concluded on December 22 with the musical-literary composition for piano and reader – War and Peace.
