"The Ukrainian Weekly". 1992. 8 nov. №45

Virko Baley

"Kyiv Music Fest'92"

Festivals, by their very nature, cause sensory overload. They bombard the viewer/listener with the frequency and intensity of an atom smasher. They force participants into new mind sets that an ordinary life of once-a-week concert- theater- and museum-going does not even consider. "Kyiv Music Fest'92" was definitely such an event, and the feeling in Kyiv was that it — the festival of the land — has become a major cultural event in Kyiv and by extension, the rest of Ukraine.

First a few facts. "Kyiv Music Fest'92" began on Saturday, October 3 and ended a week later on October 10, 1992. Like all festivals, it attempted to organize the activities (three main concerts a day, on a few occasions four) into a pattern that the audience could quickly remember. The opening concert preceded by an outdoor concert of wind music, took place in the Shevchenko Theater of Opera and Ballet on a specially constructed stage that turned the opera house into an acceptable concert hall.

Beginning with Sunday, October 4, the following pattern became established: at noon, a concert given by the "International Youth Music Forum" devoted to the music of young composers; at 4 p.m., a concert of chamber music; and at 7 p.m. a concert of symphonic music. On two evenings, parallel events would take place at the 7:00 hour; these were devoted to various forms of pop music. Two symphonic evenings, October 6 and 7, were devoted to the Iwanna and Marian Kots International Composition Competition (more on that later).

A gargantuan role in this festival was played by the Kyiv Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Its music director, Volodymyr Kozhukhar, agreed to prepare the orchestra for three of the seven symphony evenings, although he conducted only the closing concert. The other orchestras and chamber ensembles that took part were the State Symphony Orchestra of Television and Radio, Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor; Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Mykola Diadiura, conductor; Dnipropetrovsk Symphony Orchestra, Viacheslav Blinov, conductor; Zaporizhzhia Symphony Orchestra, Viacheslav Redia, conductor; Symphony Orchestra of Kyiv State Children's Music Theater, Ihor Palkin, conductor; Kyiv Chamber Orchestra, Roman Kofman, conductor; Ukrainian Composers' Union Chamber Orchestra, Volodymyr Runchak, conductor; The Kyiv Camerata, Valeriy Matiukhin, conductor; and the Chamber Orchestra of Lviv, Myroslav Skoryk, music director.

The opening concert was played to a full house. I should state right away that the attendance for the whole festival was extraordinary. At every event there was never less than 70 percent of capacity. Before the concert began there were words of welcome and the reading of letters from President Leonid Kravchuk and the world-renowned violinist-conductor Yehudi Menukhin.

Here is a quote from President Kravchuk's letter: "Let me welcome all participants and guests of the Third Ukrainian International Music Festival — "Kyiv Music Fest'92". It is a great pleasure to greet you here on the first anniversary of the independence of Ukraine. I strongly believe that the attitude towards spiritual values and their creators constitutes one of the main features of any modern and civilized democratic society. Being a land rich in ancient traditions, Ukraine has always made efforts to become a part of the world culture; we have always held in esteem the outstanding achievements of our people and other nations".

And here is a passage from Yehudi Menukhin's communique: "It gives me great pleasure to know that so much excellent music is being made in Ukraine, that so many young musicians and contemporary composers are given performance opportunities, and I wish colleagues and audiences many stimulating hours together".

It would be impossible to give the details of each and every concert in the space allowed. In a future issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, a digest of all the reviews that appeared will be published. That was one of the extraordinary things that did happen: each and every concert was reviewed — and most of them within three days of the event — an unheard of occurrence in Ukraine up to now. All in all, over 20 articles, interviews and reviews have so far appeared in Kyiv papers alone. This points to a significant change in attitude towards art as news.

What were some of the highlights of the festival and the various guests who arrived and participated?

In the opening concert Ivan Karabyts' "Molytva Kateryny" (Kateryna's Prayer) for narrator, children's chorus and orchestra set to words by Kateryna Motrych, who also was the narrator, stirred a strong emotional response in the audience. The work is dedicated to the memory of the Great Famine of 1933 and introduced to the festival the theme of the Iwanna and Marian Kots Composers' Competition.

John Adam's "Harmonielehre" was unquestionably one of the big hits of the festival. The concert was conducted by this columnist.

The Kyiv Chamber Orchestra concert, conducted by Roman Kofman, showed that the ensemble was back on its feet after a few years of disorganization. It gave the Ukrainian premiere of Myroslav Skoryk's Diptych for string and an exciting performance of Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade".

A very popular concert was the performance of Rossini's "Slabat Mater" with the combined choruses of "Dumka", Yevhen Savchuk, director; and the City Chamber Chorus of Seintes (France), Michel Piapleni, director.

For me, as well as for the Russian composer Andre Eshpai, with whom I attended a special performance, the "Kyiv" Chamber Choir, under the direction of Mykola Hobdych, was a revelation. This was the first Ukrainian chamber chorus that I have ever heard sing to a world standard.

The young conductor Mykola Diadiura led the Kyiv Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in a varied program that included the Piano Concerto of Alfred Shnitke, the solo part was performed (from memory) by Yan Zun Kim from South Korea. But Mr.Diadiura's conducting of Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini" brought the house down.

The Kyiv Conservatory Orchestra is a gold mine. Mr.Kofman has developed it into a first rate ensemble. (Those interested in exploring their professionalism should try to find a Melodiya release of their performance of Valentin Silvestrov's Symphony No.5; it is exemplary.)

Luba and Ireneus Zhuk from Canada gave a successful piano duo recital. Juliana Osinchuk made her Kyiv debut in the performance of Lowell Liebermann's Piano Concerto No.2.

Undeniably, it was the debut of Theodore Kuchar conducting the Suite from "Porgy and Bess" by George Gershwin that caused the biggest performing sensation. His energetic conducting and charismatic stage presence brought the audience to its feet. The suite was then played a second time — and could have been repeated a third.

The closing concert introduced to Kyiv audiences two movements from "Lokale Musik" by the German composer Walter Zimmermann, who was also one of the judges of the Kots Competition. It was a highly controversial piece, very original in it's concept and (in the end) won the audiences over.

Maria (Maryna) Tchaikovska gave a brilliant performance of Edward Elgar's Concerto for Violoncello and Yuri Mazurkevich (from Boston) the first performance in Kyiv of Virko Baley's Violin Concerto No.1, quasi una fantasia. Other guests included the Finish clarinetist Pekka Ahonen, the pianists Sorin Melinde (Spain) and Eric Ferrand N'Kaouna (France), and saxophonist Michael Leonard (USA).

A good portion of the festival was devoted to music by Ukrainian composers. In addition to the ones already listed, such important works as Silvestrov's Symphony No.5 (a very important landmark in Ukrainian symphony), the premiere of Leonid Hrabovsky's controversial elegy in memory of Borys Liatoshynsky "Vorzel", Lesya Dychko's new "MASS" and compositions by Oleh Kyva, Hanna Havrylets, Oleksander Shchetynsky, Yakiv Hubanov, Ihor Shcherbakov, Yuriy Laniuk, Iryna Kyrylina, Oleksander Gugel, Liudmyla Yurina, Oleksander Grinberg, Mykhailo Starytsky, Maryna Denysenko, Vadym Zhuravytsky and other talented young composers.

Unfortunately, there were a few casualties: Levko Kolodub withdrew his projected premiere of his Symphony No. 5 (creative disagreement with conductor), Yevhen Stankovych's new work was postponed due to sudden illness of a key soloist, and no works were performed by such composers as Volodymyr Zahortsev, Vitaliy Hodziatsky and Borys Buyevsky.

Certainly, one of the main events of the festival was the Iwanna and Marian Kots Composition Competition. The preliminary jury selected six compositions, which were performed on two evenings. During the first evening, October 6, the Dnipropetrovsk Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of their music director Viacheslav Blinov, performed works by Volodymyr Runchak, Valentyn Bibik and John Anthony Lennon (USA). At this point let me state, that this concert showed again that this orchestra is one of the best in Ukraine and Maestro Blinov is one huge talent. At the end of the evening they gave a superb performance of Rachmaninoff's "The Isle of the Dead".

The following evening, the State Radio and Television Orchestra under the direction of Volodymyr Sirenko performed the remaining three compositions by Halyna Ovcharenko, Gennady Liashenko and Zbigniew Baginski (Poland). Unfortunately, this performance was less than adequate.

The jury, which consisted of Messrs. Zimmermann (Germany), Kuchar (Australia), Skoryk (Ukraine) and myself as non-voting coordinator, decided, after much deliberation and with a split vote, not to award a first prize. The second prize (S3,000) was given to Mr.Bibik for "Lamentation and Prayer" for orchestra (one vote was given to Bibik for first prize), $2,000 went to Mr.Baginski from Poland for "Threnody" for chorus and orchestra, and honorable mention to a composer under 30, Ms.Ovcharenko, for "Burnt Malva" for narrator, chorus and orchestra ($500). One vote for third prize was also given to Mr.Liashenko for Symphony "Pro memoria". All works submitted for competition were dedicated to the victims of the artificial Famine of 1933.

"Kyiv Music Fest" has now become an event. To a great extent, its success is due to the tireless efforts of Ivan Karabyts. As his partner in this endeavor (we are, in a sense, co-directors), I may be prejudiced, but the success of the event, its growth and structural development are due to his tenacity and willingness to take risks. Example: only three weeks before the festival was to begin, much of the funding was still to be delivered. The decision to go ahead in the face of such fiscal danger is nothing short of heroic.

What becomes of the festival within the next two years is of critical importance. It can, with proper financial and artistic leadership, become a worldclass event. It can bring to Ukraine the kind of recognition that only the arts attract. It can also become an important source of revenue. Time will tell whether the festival leadership has the wisdom to give this child (who, this year, has learned to walk) an opportunity to grow and prosper.