On the fifth day of the Festival, August 13, the talk round with famous artists specializing in early music Norbert Rodenkirchen and Benjamin Bagby and Ukrainian poet Ostap Slyvynskyy as a moderator was held. “Building future bridges”, as was said by Norbert Rodenkirchen, and making such solidarity concerts as during the Festival, are highly appreciated by artists and organizers of the Festival during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

This discussion was opened for the cultural exchange between European and Ukrainian artists. A significant part of the time was dedicated to answering young Ukrainian musicians’ questions about contemporary audiences perceiving ancient music, the education and promotion of this music, medieval instruments, and its modern purposes.

Norbert Rodenkirchen, flautist and composer, marked: “After these months we should start to think about structures: to build a bridge into the future, a network. It’s not only about solidarity concerts, something extraordinary to help which is very important, but it’s much more essential to think about how can we improve the logistics, and our communication process, especially in the community of the European Union which Ukraine is going to be a member of”.  He also added that in this horrible situation of the country’s invasion, “We can only hope that through music, talks and films we can share values”.

As it is not his first time in Lviv, Rodenkirchen pointed that “Now it’s necessary to reflect the European culture. It’s so interesting to be here because this is Europe, this is where the son of Mozart lived and performed for the first time after the death of his father his ‘Requiem’. And many artists worked here, for example, in Ukraine was Paul Celan… It’s a big honour for us to be here”.

His colleague, well-known musician Benjamin Bagby, has mentioned the fact that we talk about early music first. He said, “Looking back, the thing of this music differs from what we grew up with in the conservatories, music with very loud and perfect instruments. Early music has that intimate quality. That’s what creates the fascination, in my opinion. It’s human and accessible… It’s an attempt to share the human side. Lviv is a city that is amazingly human; it has very human architecture, multicultural, I think that makes Lviv a perfect city for it”.  

Artists have also talked about the past and modern Europe, sharing the importance of democracy, art and equality. This discussion was highly appreciated by Ukrainian artists and organizers of the Festival, Lviv National Philharmonic, during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Read about the Festival:

Festival’s preamble of the early music: resuming the first day 

XIX Lviv Early Music Festival: the second and third days

Final weekend of the XIX International Lviv Early Music Festival

Header photo: Danylo Bedriy