In collaboration with the Lviv Virtuosi Academic Chamber Orchestra and conductor Parviz Yahyavi, Vera Zhuk will present a programme dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Schoenberg, a representative of European modernism.
On 2 November, at 18:00, Vira Zhuk, together with the Lviv Virtuosi Academic Chamber Orchestra and conductor Parviz Yahyavi, will present a programme dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Schoenberg, the luminary of European modernism.
In Ukraine, the violinist will perform for the first time in a long time at a joint project of the Philharmonic and the Austrian Cooperation Office in Lviv. The programme will combine the music of two brilliant artists: Schoenberg and Bernstein. The evening will begin with Arnold Schoenberg’s late romantic masterpiece based on the poem by German poet Richard Demel, “The Enlightened Night”.
“Musically, for me, this work is divided into two distinct parts: the anticipation of fear of rejection, and forgiveness and acceptance,” said conductor Parviz Yahyavi.
The second part of the concert will consist of Serenade, based on Plato’s Symposium for solo violin, strings and percussion by Leonard Bernstein, presented for the first time in Lviv, with Vira Zhuk as soloist.
According to the soloist Vira Zhuk, Bernstein is known mainly as the author of the musical West Side Story. He is a well-known conductor for classical audiences, but his instrumental works are rarely performed.
“In terms of complexity and scale, Serenade is as good as a violin concerto, but Bernstein was not a fan of conservative titles and subjects. Therefore, he chose Plato’s Symposium, one of the world’s oldest books on love, for this subject. And although the composer himself claimed that he used the material quite figuratively, the music still allows us to imagine a kind of ancient party where philosophers communicate, surrounded by music and dance, about different views on love. This is what inspired Bernstein.”