How Independence Sounds

A unique performative project created in collaboration between the Lviv National Philharmonic and the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes “Territory of Terror”.

Open-air square in front of the museum: Opening

Ukrainian music as part of European culture, repeatedly subjected to pressure from various totalitarian regimes throughout the twentieth century. Ukraine’s independence also meant the restoration of the right to its own cultural memory.

Performers:

• Academic Chamber Orchestra “Virtuosos of Lviv”
• Serhii Burko, conductor
• Programme: works by Mykola Lysenko, Ihor Sonevytskyi, Myroslav Skoryk and Levko Kolodub
• Vasyl Kmet, introductory remarks

Location No. 2. A pre-war Lviv apartment from the early twentieth century

Lviv between the wars. A city of many cultures, languages and traditions. Here, Ukrainian music developed actively alongside Polish and Jewish culture. Ahead lay war, the Holocaust and totalitarian regimes that would forever change this world.

Performers: String Quartet

• Programme: works by Vasyl Barvinsky and Szymon Laks
• Vasyl Kmet, introductory remarks

Location No. 3. A Soviet-era apartment

Soviet everyday life. Cultural control, censorship, the illusion of freedom and constant fear. The story of Volodymyr Ivasiuk became one of the most tragic symbols of how the system destroyed talent even when that talent already belonged to an entire nation.

Performers: String Quartet

• Programme: works by Volodymyr Ivasiuk
• Vasyl Kmet, introductory remarks

Location No. 4. The “Olenivka” Exhibition

Vsevolod Zaderatsky wrote music even in exile camps, without any possibility of hearing it performed. His work became proof that human freedom can be imprisoned, but cannot be destroyed.

Performers: String Quartet

• Programme: Chamber Symphony by Vsevolod Zaderatskyi
• Vasyl Kmet, introductory remarks

Open-air site. The Soviet Monument Space

A performance that brings us back to the horrifying act of burning the scores of a repressed composer.

Performers:

• Sofiia Solovii, soprano
• Lev Mentsinskyi, violin
• Yuliia Makivnychuk, piano
• String Quartet
• Programme: works by Vasyl Barvinsky
• Vasyl Kmet, introductory remarks