Virtuosos 44. OPENING CONCERT

Artists:

• James VanDemark, double bass (USA)
• Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
• Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Program:

• Reinhold Glier (1875-1956). The Zaporozhy Cossacks (1921)
• Mykhailo Shved (1978*). Concerto for double bass and symphony orchestra (2025, premiere)
• Maksym Kolomiiets (1981*). Concertino for double bass and symphony orchestra (2025, premiere)
• Boriys Lyatoshynskyi (1895-1968). Symphony No. 3

One of the oldest and most authoritative classical music festivals in Ukraine, Virtuosos 44, will begin under a bright constellation of Ukrainian composers, and the central axis of the program will be the golden-roofed Kyiv. It was in this city that Reinhold Glier, then director of the Kyiv Conservatory, revived romantic ideas about the Ukrainian Cossacks in his symphonic composition The Cossacks, a musical embodiment of the painting The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan. For the first time in Kyiv, applause was also heard for the first edition of Symphony No. 3 by Borys Liatoshynsky, a landmark work of the twentieth century. Subsequently, the symphony was harshly criticized, which gave birth to its new pseudo-optimistic ending, but none of the repressive regime’s attempts to interfere with the work’s fate changed its power. Completed against the backdrop of the ashes of World War II, Symphony No. 3 has become a symbol of resistance in the current war as well.

But the best mirror of our time and its creators is undoubtedly new music. That’s why the festival continues to chronicle the works presented at it with two world premieres – concertos for double bass and orchestra, for which the American double bassist James Vandemark will join the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic under the direction of Theodore Kukhar.