“Prague School” is a term used to denote Ukrainian artists who, for various reasons, were forced to emigrate to Europe in the first half of the last century, the powerful musical center of which was Prague at that time. It was in Prague that the director of the conservatory was the famous professor and composer Vitezslav Novak, who recognized talent and mentored many Ukrainian composers.

Reproducing the cultural layer of the music of Professor Novak and his students became the goal of pianists Violina Petrychenko and Oleksandr Oliinyk, whose program included four prominent names of the “Prague School”. After all, in addition to “Song of a Moonlit Night” and “Song of a Christmas Night” by Vitezslav Novak, Four Preludes by Mykola Kolessa, who chose Prague as the place where the concert paths of Europe intersect, will also be performed. It was on the advice of Vitezslav Novak that the young Vasyl Barvinskyi developed one of the greatest interests of his life – a Ukrainian song because the wise teacher advised Barvinskyi to pay more attention to folklore. Five preludes for piano, “Song” and “Serenade” by Barvinsky belong to the period of study, in which, despite the age of the composer, the recognizable style of the artist is already maturing.

The concert’s second half will be dedicated to the unjustly forgotten Ukrainian Fedir Yakimenko, whose works in this volume will be one of the first performances in Lviv. Fate also brought him to Prague, already a respected music department professor of the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute named after M. Drahomanov. Here the circle of program composers closes because one of Fedir Yakymenko’s gifted students was Mykola Kolessa.

Artists:

• Violina Petrychenko, piano
• Oleksandr Oliinyk, piano

Program:

• Vitezslav Novak. Selected songs from the cycle “Songs of Winter Nights”, Op. 30 (1902–03):
  • “Song of the moonlit night”. Andante amoroso
  • “A Christmas Night’s Song.” Andante mysterious
• Mykola Kolessa. 4 preludes:
  • “Fantastic” (1938)
  • “Autumn” (1969)
  • “Hutsulskyi” (1975)
  • “About Dovbush” (1981)
• Vasyl Barvinskyi. Five Preludes for Piano (1908):
  • Prelude No. 1 in E minor
  • Prelude No. 2 in F sharp major
  • Prelude No. 3 in G minor
  • Prelude No. 4 in B-flat minor
  • Prelude No. 5 in C minor
• Vasyl Barvinskyi. Song (1911)
  • Serenade (1911)
• Fedir Yakymenko. “Mysterious dream” / Le rêve mystérieux (1924) Dedicated to Madame Hermann Rosignol
  • Ballad (1925). Dedicated to Boris Kamchatov
  • “Dreams”
  • Six Ukrainian pieces for piano four hands, Op. 71 (1925):
    • Opinion
    • Dance
    • Song
    • “Wedding”
    • “November”
    • “Greeks”
  • “Idyllic pictures” / Tableaux Idylligues for piano four hands, Op. 62 (1914):
    • Waltz
    • Pastoral
    • Elegy
    • “Village Dance”
    • Romance

The moderator is Mariia Levkovych