The opening of the Kharkiv Music Fest – how it was

On April 13, an extraordinary event took place in Kharkiv, which lives despite constant Russian shelling: the opening of the KharkivMusicFest. Musicians and composers flocked to the city, and a full hall of people gathered for the opening concert. Mnarrow columnist UP The life of Natalka Pysanka tells about the classical music festival, the Kharkiv premiere of the Requiem “City of Mary” and the conductor from Spain, who ensured the international status of the event.

Seven in the morning April 13, the team of soloist ensemble “Kyivska camerata” enters the train bound for Kharkiv. The musicians have sleepy smiles on their faces. The trip to the city, which is located close to the border with Russia, is filled with active conversations about the challenges for Ukrainian musicians abroad and the performance of Russian classics there.

Leader of “Cameras”, violinist Bohdana Pivnenko, already in Kharkiv, the day before she held master classes for students of the Kharkiv University of Arts. A charismatic Spanish conductor is accompanying the ensemble Rock Fargas – he is the only one of the invited foreign artists who agreed to participate in the festival.

Immediately from the station, the musicians head to the scene, which also serves as a shelter. The rehearsal begins, the time before the start of the concert is short, the acoustic conditions of the hall, to put it mildly, are not the best. But no complaints are heard, everyone is working with concentration.

Conductor Rok Fargas has already performed with “Kyiv Camerator” in Kyiv, at the KharkivMusicFest away concert in November 2023. Then he was remembered for his sincere smile and expressive manner of conducting. Here, at the rehearsal in Kharkiv, his remarks to the musicians are concise and clear.

And now the room is completely filled with people, the concert begins on schedule. Musicians go on stage and play the national anthem of Ukraine, the audience stands up and sings along. After such a touching moment of unity, important people for the festival are invited to speak. NAsha’s defenders also take the stage and are present in the hall. They are thanked and applauded.

The organization of the festival and the thoughtfulness of the program are at a high professional level. This is exciting, given the difficult conditions the people of Kharkiv are in.

The first section of the concert is framed by Symphony No. 9 for strings Felix Mendelssohn. The composer, it would seem, is in no way connected with Kharkiv. However, it was he who once again opened the pages of creativity to us Johann Sebastian Bach, so there is a certain messianic symbol in this. And you can also remember that Mendelssohn wrote the 9th Symphony when he was not even 14 years old, so this music is full of life and light.

The second number was the composer’s Concerto for flute and chamber orchestra Vitaly Gubarenko, who was born in Kharkiv and would have celebrated his 90th birthday in 2024. Soloist Dmytro Kuzmin skillfully conveyed the palette of the sound of the flute: from the subtlest nuances to unbridled energy. It’s a shame that you won’t often hear this piece in concert programs.

Before the performance of “City of Mary” Zoltana Almashi the word was given to the author. Zoltan repeating the words Mstislav Chernova from the Oscar ceremony, said that this work could not have been better.

But this piece exists and was performed for the first time in Kharkiv. This is a requiem hymn dedicated to Mariupol. At the end of the performance of the work, sound notifications were activated in the mobile phones of the visitors, informing about the sounding of the air raid alarm.

The second part of the concert began with the fiery “Concerto Rutheno” for piano and orchestra Oleksandr Kozarenko. One of the videographers in the hall even danced to the rhythmic Hutsul motifs. Soloist Dmytro Tavanets and “Kyivska camerata” burst into a flurry of applause.

To continue the folklore theme, “Diversity” for strings was played Bela Bartok. The Hungarian composer gave a concert in Kharkiv almost a century ago.

Bohdana Pivnenko performed a virtuoso Violin Concerto together with “Camerata” as a bright end to the program Volodymyr Zubytskyi. During the concert, Bohdan (by the way, a native of Kharkov) also received the title of Honorary Doctor of the Kotlyarevsky University of Arts.

Zubytskyi’s violin concerto exists only in a manuscript version and is performed exclusively by the “Kyiv Camerata”. As Bohdana Pivnenko joked, more than one conductor broke down at this “Concert”, but it’s not about Rok Fargas.

“On encore” the national anthem of Ukraine sounded again, read by the composer Yury Shevchenko – a paraphrase of “We are!”

“Kyivska Kamerata” has a concert in the American Carnegie Hall ahead. Bohdana Pivnenko announces it from the stage. The music of exclusively Ukrainian composers will be played there: in addition to those that were played in Kharkiv, there will be other works Evgeny Stankovych, Oleksandr Shchetynskyi and Victoria Poleva. Bohdana says that the performance in Kharkiv is as important to her as the upcoming concert in America.

About KharkivMusicFest

This is the third festival since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. It did not cease to exist even in the spring of 2022, so it took place in the Kharkiv metro, when fighting was raging on the outskirts of the city.

The International Festival of Classical Music was first held under this name in 2018. Performances of the KharkivMusicFest symphony orchestra are held there, conducted at various times by Myroslav Skoryk, Andriy Yurkevich, as well as the Polish conductor Tomasz Bugai.

The festival hosts the All-Ukrainian Competition of Young Composers named after Borys Lyatoshinskyi.

KharkivMusicFest will continue this year from April 13 to May 31. In order to find out where concerts and other artistic events will take place, you need to register in a special Google form. Despite such difficulties, the organizers of the festival – the Kharkiv community fund “Toloka” – expect full halls.

Further, the Festival has a rich program. The next concert will start on April 18. This is “Baroque Colors” performed by the Choir and Orchestra of the Kharkiv National University of Arts named after Kotlyarevsky.