«The Music of Poetry» at the Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, USA
Date and time: 29th October 2015, 7.00 p.m.
Venue: Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 E 79th St, New York, NY 10075
RSVP – editorial@elegantnewyork.com
General Admission is $10. UIA Members Free.
Interview with Valentyn Syl’vestrov read here
[box]On 29th October 2015 (7.00 p.m.), an outstanding Ukrainian composer Valentyn Syl’vestrov will present his project “The Music of Poetry” at the Ukrainian Institute of America, New York. You will have a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with V. Syl’vestrov’s vocal works, created to the words of Ukrainian, British, and Austrian classics. This event will take place thanks to the Ukrainian Institute of America, which organized this concert in New York, and Kyiv DOM Master Klass of Education and Culture, which has actively promoted Ukrainian culture abroad for several years.[/box]
A premiere of “The Music of Poetry” with the participation of the author and performers – a singer Inna Galatenko and pianist Oleh Bezborod’ko – took place in February 2014 at the Art Forum, dedicated to the memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes. Moreover, the concert has been successfully held in the context of the festival “Ukraine Is a Free Stage” in Paris in the spring of 2015, as well as in Strasbourg. Besides, this concert programme has been presented at the VI International Poetry Festival MERIDIAN CZERNOWITZ in Chernivtsi on 4th September 2015.
It matters a good deal to Valentyn Syl’vestrov to hear a poem, feel how the text presents itself, and find musical inertia. So the vocal works of this composer create a complete cycle and sound as if all the poets wrote one song. And poets of different ages are like brothers and sisters in this song.
Valentyn Syl’vestrov: “At thetime when texts appeared(especially classical,ontological ones,which are familiar to everyone), they were alive. They were redaloud.Then people began to read them aloudless and less. Sometime after that, they began to read them silently, witheyes.
When this occurs, any verse starts withering. In other words, it still lives, but like a butterfly under glass. But this butterfly preserves its beauty even under glass, and music is something that brings it to life for a moment. It is the life-giving water that invigorates it. And it gets free from its glass prison to fly again…”
It is no coincidence that the concert will start with a song based on Taras Shevchenko’s poem. The poet’s language is not just a language. Shevchenko is the author of the texts that show that the Ukrainian people and its language must not disappear. His texts are like a guard protecting the language and the people.
From Shevchenko to the poets of our time, all generations of Ukrainian word painters have strung their poems like corals onto the thread of Ukrainian culture identity, creating a kind of talisman over and over again. Their poems, Shevchenko’s in particular, are in fact the independence of Ukraine.
The concert programme “The Music of Poetry” includes the following compositions:
- Premiere: Two Songs: “All My Confidence…” to the words of Taras Shevchenko and “The Elegy” to the words of Pavlo Tychyna.
2. Five songs based on the poetry of Ivan Franko from the cycle “Withered Leaves”.
3. Premiere: Two Songs: “I’ll Build the House and the Room…” to the words of Taras Shevchenko and “The Pastoral” to the words of Pavlo Tychyna.
4. The premiere of “Farewell” to the words of J. Keats translated by S. Krutikov.
5. “Oh, Ms. Inna” by Pavlo Tychyna and “Tamarisk Blossom” by Tamara Severniuk.
The Participants of the Concert “The Music of Poetry”:
Valentyn Syl’vestrov, a winner of the International S. Koussevitzky Prize, winner of the International Composers’ Competition “Gaudeamus”, and People’s Artist of Ukraine.
Inna Galatenko, a soprano, soloist of the national ensemble “Kyiv Kamerata”. All vocal works for the past 10 years were written by V. Syl’vestrov specifically for her voice.
Oleh Bezborod’ko is a composer, pianist, winner of the Revuts’kyi Prize (2008), award holder, and winner of various international piano competitions in the USA, Canada, and Ukraine, as well as the composers’ competition “Gradus ad Parnassum” (Kyiv).
The Organizer of the Project “The Music of Poetry”:
The DOM Master Klass of Education and Culture was established in 2007 as an open intellectual and creative platform, where amazing weekly jazz and classical music concerts, lectures on European history and art, film screenings, exhibitions, and art soirees take place.
The Organizers of the Concert “The Music of Poetry” in New York:
Ukrainian Institute of America
www.ukrainianinstitute.org
The DOM Master Klass of Education and Culture
www.masterklass.ua/en
Media Sponsor of the Concert
Elegant New York Magazine
www.elegantnewyork.com
