As part of the Eighth International Marathon in memory of opera singer and warrior Vasyl Slipak, Lviv will host 5 concerts and one opera performance.
From 28 June to 5 July, famous Ukrainian and foreign musicians will gather to honour the musician who died for the freedom of Ukraine.
On 29 June, it will be eight years since a sniper’s bullet took the life of Vasyl Slipak, a prominent Ukrainian opera singer, soloist of the Paris National Opera, volunteer, combatant and Hero of Ukraine. To honour Vasyl, musicians from Ukraine, Spain, France, Germany and the UK are joining the Eighth Open International Music Marathon in memory of the opera singer.
The Vasyl Slipak Memorial Marathon was launched in 2017 and is symbolically held every year in the last days of June. This year, the marathon will take place from 2 June to 25 July under the slogan “To the Artists Who Fell for Ukraine”.
The Marathon is organised by the Myroslav Skoryk Lviv National Philharmonic in partnership with the Vasyl Slipak Foundation.
Marathon programme in Lviv
– 28 June, 19:00 / Baroque l’immortelle (Lviv Philharmonic)
Music can become a universal dictionary of feelings, an idea that Baroque composers put into their treatises on rhetorical figures, these recordings could decipher every melody and turn it into a story. However, the most valuable thing is that almost half a millennium ago, people listened to music and felt similar feelings to ours.
Mysterious references on the pages of the scores will be broadcast by the Terra Barocca Ancient Music Ensemble. Their programme includes eight unique works of the Baroque period, including both the creations of legendary masters and music by unfairly forgotten composers. The programme includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Stanislav Sylvester Shazhinsky, Johann Jakob Froberger, Henry Purcell, Claude Balbatre, Jean-Feric Rebel, Pancras Royer and Antonio Vivaldi.
– 29 June, 17:00 / Prayer for Vasyl (Lviv Philharmonic)
The concert programme will focus on chamber music by both contemporary composers and representatives of the late Romantic era. All the selected pieces, written in the individual style of each of the artists, reflect the main trends in the development of Ukrainian instrumental music. Together, the works by Barvinsky, Lyatoshynsky, Havrylets, Lysenko and Skoryk will become a prayerful remembrance of the hero of Ukraine Vasyl Slipak. They will be performed by the Phoenix String Quartet and renowned pianist Violina Petrychenko.
– 29 June, 20:00 / Dialogue of the present (Lviv Philharmonic)
The new ensemble “etc.duo”, consisting of young performers Natalia Kozhushko-Maksymiv and Roksoliana Kit, promotes contemporary Ukrainian music. Music that is rarely heard at concert venues, music about what remains behind the scenes. Music about something different, but familiar to each of us: music that you will definitely like. The common point of contact is Ukrainian contemporary music, which “etc.duo” performs at each of its concerts, and in particular at this concert you will hear a dialogue between contemporary works, vividly interpreted by the performers. The programme includes pieces by Mykola Lysenko, Yevhen Stankovych, Anton Rudnytskyi, Hanna Havrylets, Viktor Kaminskyi and Yuriy Ishchenko.
– 30 June, 17:00 / “I’m not afraid of anything” (Lviv Philharmonic)
“I am not afraid of anything. Only God” – these famous words of Vasyl Slipak gave the concert its title. The famous work by Ludwig van Beethoven, which was not accidentally chosen for the programme of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic as part of the Vasyl Slipak Marathon, also reflects the unbreakable will to win. The symbolic and inspirational story of Count Egmont from the Netherlands is told in the music of the overture of the same name. One of the most popular examples of the Polish musical avant-garde, the Symphony of Mourning Songs by Henryk Gurecki, will also be performed. Written for orchestra and solo female voice, this work focuses the audience’s attention on the image of a mother in grief, mourning her dead son, who is symbolically correlated to the Virgin Mary and the victims of the Second World War. The event will be attended by the famous conductor Marta Kluczynska from Poland. The soloist of the evening will be mezzo-soprano Lilia Nikitchuk.
– 30 June, 20:00 /From France with love (Lviv Philharmonic)
The last event of the marathon will build another symbolic bridge between Ukraine and France – the Philharmonic Hall will be filled with the mood of the Paris Opera, with Vasyl Slipak as its soloist. It is here that the paths of the maestros of French music – Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, Georges Bizet, Hector Berlioz – will converge, and this is not the whole list of composers who will be performed by the marathon’s guest Cérine de Labeau and Lviv pianists Oksana Rapita and Myroslav Dragan.
– 5 July, 18:00 / Opera “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (Lviv Opera)
One of the most popular operas of the twentieth century, Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, is staged by the Lviv National Opera.
The story of a young aristocrat Blanche, who, going through difficult events and circumstances during the French Revolution, overcomes her own fears, doubts and helplessness, will be presented in the director’s vision by Vasyl Vovkun.
Neoclassical music by Francis Poulenc, full of deep drama, will be performed under the baton of Ivan Cherednichenko.
The minimalist set design by Mykola Molchan, full of capacious symbols of the main Christian idea, costumes by top Ukrainian designer Oksana Karavanska and an impressive lighting score by Oleksandr Mezentsev will add expressive touches and details to the production.