| Kyiv Symphony Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
 The orchestra playing at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden on 28 April 2022 | |
| Founded | 1980s |
| Location | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Principal conductor | Luigi Gaggero |
| Website | kyivsymphony |
The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra is a Ukrainian symphony orchestra based in Kyiv. It has been conducted by Luigi Gaggero since 2018. The orchestra played music by Ukrainian composers on a tour to major concert halls in Poland and Germany, beginning in April 2022.
The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1979, during the time of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. [2] It was previously known as the Kyiv Fantastic Orchestra and the State Academic Variety Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. [3]
From 2005 to 2018, the artistic director of the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was Mykola Lysenko, great-great-grandson of famous Ukrainian composer. [4] In 2017, the orchestra director was changed — Oleksandr Zaitsev was appointed instead of Serhii Fedorenko. The latter, in turn, fired the artistic director, Mykola Lysenko, and invited Bohdan Pushchak, a native of Donetsk, to replace him. The orchestra received an unofficial name Kyiv Fantastic orchestra [5]
Since 2018 the chief conductor has been Luigi Gaggero. [6] He came to Ukraine as a performing percussionist around 2012, and was impressed by the quiet attention of the audience, listening like to a spiritual message ("geistige Botschaft"). Gaggero was born in Italy, studied in Germany, has taught in France, and has a vision of building Europe. [2] The orchestra has toured in Spain and the Netherlands. [2] They have played at national occasions such as the 30th anniversary of independence in 2021. The orchestra has run an orchestra academy. [7]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the orchestra was invited to play a series of concerts in Poland and Germany, beginning with a concert in Warsaw on 21 April. [8] The tour was approved not only by the Ministry of Culture, but also the Ministry of Defense, permitting male players to leave the country. [2] [9] They have performed in Germany at the Kulturpalast in Dresden, [10] Leipzig, [2] the Berliner Philharmonie, the Kurhaus Wiesbaden as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival, [11] Freiburg, the Kuppelsaal of the Stadthalle Hannover, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Hofwiesenpark in Gera. [7] [12] [1] The performers were allowed to be accompanied by their families and children. [8]
The program of the tour is focused on Ukrainian music, with works by Maxim Berezovsky, Myroslav Skoryk and Borys Lyatoshynsky. [2] The program for Wiesbaden combined Berezovsky's Symphony in C major from the 1770s with Chausson's Poème for violin and orchestra, Op. 25, and Skoryk's Melody in A minor (1982). [10] [11] The violinist there was Aleksey Semenenko. [11] The program ended with Lyatoshynsky's Symphony No. 3, Op. 50 (1951) in its original form, with the final movement themed: "Peace will conquer war." [6] [11] [13]
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, shortened to MDR, is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt and Magdeburg. MDR is a member of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany.
Borys Mykolaiovych Lyatoshynsky ), also known as Boris Nikolayevich Lyatoshinsky, was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, and teacher. A leading member of the new generation of 20th century Ukrainian composers, he was awarded a number of accolades, including the honorary title of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and two Stalin Prizes.
Myroslav Mykhailovych Skoryk was a Ukrainian composer and teacher. His music is contemporary in style and contains stylistic traits from Ukrainian folk music traditions.
Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian composer and pianist, who plays and writes contemporary classical music.
Yevhen Fedorovych Stankovych is a contemporary Ukrainian composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, and choral works.
Bohdana Froliak is a modern Ukrainian composer.
Ivan Fedorovych Karabyts was a Ukrainian composer and conductor, and a People's Artist of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Markovych Kozhukhar was a Soviet and Ukrainian conductor and academic teacher who focused on opera. Most notably, he conducted and taught in Kyiv and Moscow, among other places.
Ludmila Yurina is a Ukrainian composer,pianist and musicologist.
The Kharkiv Philharmonic Society is a leading musical organization in Ukraine, promoting classical music, contemporary music, and Ukrainian folk music.
Karl Ottomar Treibmann was a German composer and music educator. From 1981 until his retirement in 2001, he was professor of music theory and Tonsatz at the Leipzig University. He was one of the representatives of modernity in the German Democratic Republic, whose great major works can be found in the areas of opera, symphony and chamber music.
The Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in Ukraine.
The Symphony No. 3 in B minor by the Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynsky was completed in 1951, with the final movement themed "Peace will conquer war." The symphony was first performed in Kyiv on 23 October 1951, by the Kyiv Philharmonic, conducted by Natan Rakhlin. Criticised by the Soviet authorities on ideological grounds, the composer was forced to rework the symphony, and to remove the subtitle of the finale. The first performance of the revised version took place in Leningrad in 1955.
Aleksey Semenenko is a Ukrainian and German classical violinist. He won second prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2015, and has performed in Europe and the U.S. as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been teaching at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany's Ruhr Area.
Luigi Gaggero is an Italian percussionist, conductor and academic teacher who has worked internationally. He is the chief conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, and cimbalon teacher at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, the only professor of cimbalon in Western Europe.
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is an orchestra composed of Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukrainian members of other European orchestras. Canadian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who has Ukrainian ancestry, provided the impetus for the creation of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, which the Metropolitan Opera of New York and the Polish National Opera immediately supported as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine.
Melody, also known as Melody in A minor, is a musical composition by the Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk. Composed for the 1982 Soviet war film Vysokyy pereval, it has a simple structure comprising an opening theme, short development section, and modified reprise of the original theme. It was originally scored for flute and piano but has since been arranged for many other instrumentations. Melody is Skoryk's most popular work and is frequently performed in concerts, including in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Diana Tishchenko is a German classical violinist of Ukrainian descent and the winner of the International Long Thibaud Crespin Competition in Paris 2018. Named "Rising Star" by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) in 2020, she has performed at the leading concert halls of Europe.
Kharkiv Music Festival is an annual international Festival of classical music that has been taking place in Kharkiv, Ukraine, since 2018. The festival includes not only a concert programme, but also an educational programme and activities to promote classical music. Festival events take place both in the concert halls of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Society and Kharkiv State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Mykola Lysenko, as well as in unconventional locations such as the subway, shopping malls, art spaces, and open-air venues. Some of the festival events are free of charge and have free admission.
Borys Ljatoschynskyj... erregte mit seiner Musik immer wieder das Missfallen des Sowjet-Regimes. So musste er das Finale seiner Dritten Symphonie, das das Motto »Der Friede wird den Krieg besiegen« trug, komplett umarbeiten. Das Kyiv Symphony Orchestra stellt uns das Werk in seiner Urfassung von 1951 vor. (Borys Lyatoshynskyj... repeatedly aroused the displeasure of the Soviet regime with his music. For example, he had to completely rework the finale of his Third Symphony, which bore the motto 'Peace will conquer war'. The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra presents the work in its original version from 1951.)
Ukrainian males aged 18-60 are currently forbidden from leaving their country and several members of the Kyiv orchestra had to apply for permission to go abroad. The musicians will perform the work of several Ukrainian composers, including a Borys Lyatoshynsky symphony inspired by World War II, with the theme of peace overcoming war.
