They say that the 21st century will be dominated by women in all walks of life. Even now we see a number of examples where women, tender and fragile as these representatives of the fair sex are supposed to be, can be decisive, dedicated, and capable of leading men. One of these women who achieve more the less time they have is the noted pianist Yevhenia Basalaieva. She is a professor at the National Music Academy of Ukraine. Besides her teaching duties, she is raising a son, gives many concerts, and is busy with charitable work. She is giving a solo concert in Rome on Dec. 20, the proceeds of which will be channeled into treating and curing children afflicted with serious diseases.
One of her charitable concerts in the “Elite Chamber Music Soiree” series recently took place at the Mykola Lysenko Hall of Columns (reviewed in issue no. 210 of The Day). For the past several years Basalaieva has been attracting listeners at the Philharmonic, enabling them to immerse themselves in the world of subtle musical images and form new impressions from classical works.
“All the soirees in this series are aimed at presenting works by Ukrainian composers that are performed along with world masterpieces,” Basalaieva says. “These concerts are monologues, each of which reflects a certain state of my soul. The latest concert entitled “Dialogue of Cultures: Metopes, The Edges of Eternity” became a symbol for me of special beauty and harmony. The metopes (the space between two triglyphs of a Doric frieze often adorned with carved work) are an association. Our entire life, so far as I’m concerned, is like a temple and the metopes are what we do. I wanted the study of eternal beauty to be the leitmotif of the concert. It is beauty, like Ariadne’s thread (Ariadne gave her lover Theseus a thread that he let unwind through the Labyrinth so that he was able to kill the Minotaur and find his way back out again) that can lead us through the intricate maze of life out of which we are unable to find our way. But I believe that beauty will save the world and spur people to choose lasting rather than short-lived values.”
This association with Ariadne’s thread that you mention is no coincidence. A Polish critic with the popular magazine Music Movement used it when you and the Kyiv Soloists group appeared at the “Warsaw Autumn” festival in 2000, performing Yevhen Stankovych’s Chamber Symphony No. 9, entitled “One against the Other.” This work, commissioned by the directors of “Warsaw Autumn,” was also heard during the concert in Kyiv.
Ye.B.: The main theme, which is presented by the piano, is reminiscent of the chirping of birds and can be perceived as a bright beam pointing the way from darkness to light. That’s what elicited this association, and journalists started comparing me to Ariadne.
You have created a fund in support of young musicians.
Ye.B.: My fund is a recent one (established in 2003), but we have already accomplished quite a lot. We provide scholarships, sponsor creative projects, and hold Days of Ukrainian Culture. Last summer we helped finance a trip to Artek, where the children’s choir of the National Radio Company of Ukraine performed at a music festival and had a nice break. My latest concert was also a benefit show. All the proceeds were sent to the Open Association of Organizations, Groups, and Individuals Working with Very Sick Children “To Live Tomorrow.” The children in the audience in Kyiv were brought from an orphanage in Zaporizhia. By the way, a Ukrainian-Italian fund invited me to perform a solo Christmas Eve concert in Rome, so that the proceeds can be used to send 14 Ukrainian children for rest and recreation in Italy. My concert in Rome will include world and Ukrainian classics. My son Anton Kotorovych, who is a sixth-grader at the special Lysenko Music College and a winner of two children’s international competitions, will also be performing. I have also received concert offers from Milan and Palermo.
You said that the image-bearing structure of your latest concert was mournful, which was connected to a degree of disillusionment that replaced the great emotional upsurge of the Orange Revolution.
Ye.B.: The disillusionment was caused by the fact that many people failed to pass muster as spiritually solid individuals; they succumbed to the power of money and lost such age-old values as decency, friendliness, and conscientiousness. I can see that little has changed around me and this doesn’t add to positive emotions.
Imagine how difficult it is for me at the conservatory, teaching my students the works of Chopin, for example, and hearing pop music coming from the Maidan. Sometimes I’m scared to use the truba underpass, which is filled with people with devastated souls, who smoke and swear up a storm. We have to fight for these young people. I realize that my music project will not make any cardinal changes in the country. But I do want to involve as many people as possible in high art and save their souls from becoming callous.
