Ukrainian culture is often overshadowed by other cultural traditions on the world stage, despite its profound heritage.
Organized by the Pro Musica Viva Foundation, which has been promoting Ukrainian music in Poland for 25 years, the festival seeks to make up for the lack of Ukrainian compositions in Polish educational curricula and performance repertoires.
The foundation and the festival are led by Polish conductor and composer Roman Rewakowicz.
"The programs at Polish philharmonics are lacking Ukrainian music," Rewakowicz lamented, recalling his educational experiences where music from regions as varied as Africa, the Balkans, and even the Inuit culture were studied, yet Ukrainian music was notably absent.
Despite his ongoing efforts to persuade concert venues and music directors to include Ukrainian pieces in their concerts, support has been minimal, he said and stressed this opportunity to experience the lesser-known Ukrainian music, "worth discovering especially today when Ukrainians are dying in defense of their culture."
Rewakowicz contrasts this with his experiences in Ukraine, where he took part in the creation of the "Kontrasty" Contemporary Music Festival in Lviv in 1995.
"There was a huge openness towards the West. For Ukrainians, Poland is a model of how to change their country, and we had no issues presenting a significant amount of Polish music there," he said.
Rewakowicz’s dedication stems in part from his personal history as a descendant of the victims of Operation Vistula, the 1947 compulsory resettlement of approximately 150,000 Ukrainians, Rusyns, Boykos and Lemkos, orchestrated by the communist authorities of the day.
As a young man Rewakowicz gradually embraced his Ukrainian heritage through the male choir Żurawli and direct interactions with Ukraine.
The festival will open on September 8 with the Chromatophonic Trio performing Viktor Kosenko's Classical Piano Trio in D major, Op. 17 and Valentin Silvestrov's Drama.
Following this, on September 10, the Camerata Silesia, led by conductor Anna Szostak, will perform 17th-century Ukrainian choral masterpieces by Maksym Berezovsky and Dmytro Bortniansky.
The closing concert on September 13 will feature the Kyiv Camerata National Ensemble of Soloists, showcasing Yuriy Pikush’s Escape Velocity along with compositions by Zoltan Almaszi and Oleksandr Kozarenko.
All performances will take place at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP