Performer:

• Olena Matseliukh, organ

Programme:

• Viktor Honcharenko. Apocrypha
• Johann Sebastian Bach. Fantasy and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
• Oleksandr Honobolin. Prayer
• Viktor Honcharenko. Chaconne
• Oleksandr Honobolin. Clouds of Light

Every year, Olena Matseliukh presents carefully curated organ programmes at the festival. This year, the renowned interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music turns her attention to Ukrainian organ music. There are around one hundred organs currently in use across Ukraine, and communities of organists are taking shape, inspiring composers to create new works. Olena Matseliukh is an active ambassador for their music.

The evening opens with Apocrypha by Viktor Honcharenko, an organist and composer from Dnipro. Biblical stories that were not included in Holy Scripture and were intended only for a select circle of the initiated will take on an atmosphere of grandeur and revelation through the sound of the organ. The composer achieves a similar effect in his Chaconne, combining the minimalist gestures of the opening in the high register with a chorale that surprises with unexpected harmonies.

The sacred character of the programme will be reinforced by Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue in G minor, written as an audition piece for the position of organist at St. James’s Church in Hamburg. In it, the improvisatory freedom of the fantasy is transformed into the ingenious structure of the fugue, whose performance requires virtuoso command of the instrument.

A profound sense of spirituality runs through every work on the programme. Prayer and Clouds of Light by Oleksandr Honobolin explore another facet of faith — its tenderness and serenity. Their flowing, almost song-like melodies suggest the inflections of the human voice, once again demonstrating the remarkable range of colours and expressive possibilities of the organ.