Ukraine. Mother. Shevchenko

The grandiose work for symphony orchestra, choir and soloists, for which the composer received the Shevchenko Prize, will be performed again at the Lviv Philharmonic!

This music was written specifically for the musicians who will perform on stage on May 12. In 2014, during the first events of the Revolution of Dignity, a well-known Lviv artist Bohdana Frolyak accepted the proposal of the director of the Lviv Philharmonic Volodymyr Syvokhip to write a large-scale composition based on the poems of the Ukrainian Prophet of Truth. The extraordinary task of singing about Ukraine has become relevant at the time of a new stage in the struggle for its freedom, values, and humanity…

In an interview, the composer shares: “Righteous Soul…” is like a song about Ukraine composed of Shevchenko’s poems. Conventionally, this work is divided into three parts. The first part is Ukraine. The second part is a woman, a mother, a fate. The third is Shevchenko’s paradise. These are “My Evening Dawn,” “The Sun Goes Down,” and “Testament.” I consider the poem “Let me cry, let me see my Ukraine again” to be the central poem, the quiet culmination.

That is why the second special occasion of this evening is to honor a woman and a mother. It is no coincidence that in Shevchenko’s philosophical understanding, the image of Ukraine symbolizes a mother, a long-suffering but devoted mother and nurturer of her many children. Therefore, the musicians dedicate this event to Ukrainian mothers who lost their children during the war with the Russia.

The subtle, prayerfully nurtured musical texture of the work reveals emotional depths that enhance the sound of the very time we live in. At the same time, the hope that the composer embodies at this symphony-requiem become the invisible visionary mark of brilliant artworks that delight and comfort the hearts of our contemporaries.

Artists:

• Sofiia Solovii, soprano
• Natalia Polovynka, mezzo-soprano
• Stepan Drobit, baritone
• Honored Academic Chapel of Ukraine “Trembita” (artistic director – Mykola Kulyk, conductor – Volodymyr Vivcharyk)
• Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra 
• Volodymyr Syvokhip, conductor

Program:

• Bohdana Frolyak. “Righteous soul…”. Symphony-requiem for mixed choir, soloists, and symphony orchestra to Taras Shevchenko’s poems (2014)