This fall, the “Contrasts” International Festival of Contemporary Music was once again held at the Myroslav Skoryk Lviv National Philharmonic. One of the oldest and largest Ukrainian festivals of contemporary art lasted from October 1 to 10.

The final event of the forum called “Postludium” had to be postponed to October 18 due to massive air attacks by the aggressor Russia.

Meanwhile, “Contrasts” traditionally combined the newest samples of music of the 20th-21st centuries in the program, presenting to the musical community of Ukraine and the world, in particular, the mastery of performers who remained in Ukraine during the full-scale phase of the Russian invasion. After all, the festival was held under the slogan of the project “Ukraine-2022. Muses Are Not Silent”, which the Philharmonic has been taking care of since March of this year. Its purpose is to support Ukrainian musicians and their concert activities in new circumstances. The concerts themselves are a platform for the unification of the Ukrainian cultural environment.

All the events of the Festival were broadcast online, so in this material, we have collected videos of live broadcasts, as well as the main exciting moments, saved in the photographs of Vitalii Hrabar.

October 1. 28 Contrasts. Preludium is a stage vocal performance by Victoria Vitrenko dedicated to Maria Kalesnikova and all Ukrainian and Belarusian victims of totalitarian, cynical and brutal regimes in Russia and Belarus.

October 2. 28 Contrasts. Transfiguration is a large-scale symphonic event with premieres of music by Chinese, Greek, French and Ukrainian composers.

October 4. 28 Contrasts. Illuminated by the Black Sun – the Lviv premiere of Yevhen Petrychenko’s choral symphony-performance about Donbas, as well as choral works by contemporary Ukrainian composers performed by guests from Kyiv, the National House of Music.

October 5. 28 Contrasts. The Hammers and a Master – piano works by students-composers of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Academy, as well as the world premiere of the translation of Borys Liatoshynskyi’s Third Symphony for two pianos in 8 hands by Hlib Fareniuk.

October 6. 28 Contrasts. Lviv Trio – three Ukrainian chamber compositions (Barvinskyi, Skoryk, Liatoshynskyi) from different eras for three famous performers.

October 7. “Two Days and Two Nights of New Music” at “Contrasts” is a unique program with mini-mono-operas, which was presented by Ukrainian “Senza Sforzando” ensemble (Odesa) and the world-famous bass-baritone Rupert Bergman (Austria).

October 9. 28 Contrasts. Microsymphonies — exercises of musical language by Yevhen Stankovych, impressive combinations of acoustic instruments and electronics by Ostap Manulyak, intellectual searches of Arnold Schoenberg and Witold Lutoslawski — the contrasting quintessence at the end of the 28th Festival.

October 18. 28 Contrasts. Postludium — program in the Ukrainian piano style for the famous duet of Oksana Rapita and Myroslav Dragan. In addition to the works of Hennadii Liashenko, Ihor Shcherbakov, Yevhen Stankovych and Bohdana Frolyak, a special piece of the program will be a collective work on the theme of Stanislav Liudkevych, whose performance for the piano will take place for the first time.

Funds from the sale of tickets and donations will be used to support musicians who remain in Ukraine and continue their concert activities.

Festival was held with the support of the Society of Authors ZAiKS, PWM Edition, RenesArt Foundation, Goethe-Institut Ukraine, Phasma Music and OeAD Cooperation Office L’viv.

Our YouTube channel

Charitable help for Ukrainian musicians: Patreon | Bank details | PayPal: [email protected]