The Musikfest Berlin of the Berliner Festspiele is pleased to announce the concert of another guest orchestra: Conducted by their Principal Conductor Hobart Earle and featuring pianist Tamara Stefanovich as soloist, the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra will be guests at the Musikfest Berlin on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 20:00h at the Philharmonie.
The programme will include works by Ukrainian composers Myroslav Skoryk, Mykola Lysenko and Alemdar Karamanov as well as the Second Symphony by Jean Sibelius. This concert is the orchestra’s only performance in Germany and is organised in cooperation with the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The Tickets are available now.
“In the criminal offensive war against Ukraine, cultural venues and cultural treasures are coming under targeted attack. This is the Putin-regime’s attempt to weaken and ultimately destroy Ukraine’s identity. We must not allow this to happen! That is why I called upon all German cultural organisations in February to increasingly present art, culture and music from Ukraine in order to show the autonomy and variety of Ukrainian culture. The performance of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra at Musikfest Berlin will allow us to encounter Ukraine’s musical tradition. Thus, the concert is not only a symbol of our solidarity but also a sign of Ukraine’s strong cultural identity.”
Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media
From Odessa to Berlin
90 musicians of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1937. They will present the concert programme in Moldova’s capital of Chișinău on 2 September. Following this concert, the orchestra will travel to Berlin for further rehearsals and performances. During the concert on 6 September, the orchestra – conducted by Hobart Earle and featuring Tamara Stefanovich as soloist – will present works by Ukrainian composers. Those national “treasures” which will eminently reflect the history of their country as well as the history of its culture and music. The concert’s conclusion will be the Second Symphony by Jean Sibelius, which was first performed on 8 March 1902 in Helsinki, conducted by the composer himself.
“We are delighted that the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra and their Principal Conductor Hobart Earle have been able to accept our invitation to perform at this year’s Musikfest Berlin – despite the extremely adverse and arduous conditions of rehearsals and travel that have been caused by the war. Their programme allows us to experience a very special musical culture which has enjoyed only scant attention from the Western music scene. May this concert be an event of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and a symbol against war, for humanity and the hope for peace.”
Andrea Zietzschmann, General Manager of the Foundation Berliner Philharmoniker
Between War and The Urge for Peace
The concert will be opened with the piece Dytynstvo / Childhood”, a part of the score which the then 26-year-old composer Myrosloav Skoryk (1938-2020) wrote. It was composed for the film Tini zabutykh predkiv / Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). This film by Armenian director Sergej Paradjanov embodies Ukrainian culture on several different levels. Furthermore it was celebrated as a film from the USSR at many renowned international festivals. The 1966 New York Film Festival underlined the significance of the score: “Chants, folk songs, atonal music – all this in combination with its fantastic cinematography make this film into a powerful work“.
Ukranian Folk music and it’s comtemporary echo
Composer and pianist Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912) explored Ukrainian folk music in even greater depth and published several folk song collections as an ethnographer – a musicological foundation that created a basis and greater visibility for Ukrainian folklore and music. Lysenko is seen as the inventor of new compositional forms and founder of a national style. His Elegy Op. 41 No.3, originally composed for piano, will be presented in an orchestra version as a German premiere at Musikfest Berlin.
Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007), who described himself as a Crimean-Ukrainian-Russian composer, is one of the major symphonic composers of his time. After a period of initial success, he was refused recognition by Soviet cultural politics because his music was oriented towards Western avant-garde and included Christian themes. He withdrew to Crimea. From the 1990s onwards, his music was rediscovered and appreciated. At the annual Berliner Festwochen in 1995, for example. Pianist Tamara Stefanovich will present his Piano Concerto No. 3 Ave Maria, most probably as a German premiere.
Available Offline and Online
The concert will be streamed live in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall. It will also be available afterwards in the Berliner Festspiele’s media library for another 10 days. There will be an additional recording by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, broadcasted on 25 September.
6 September 2022, 20:00h
Philharmonie Berlin, Main Auditorium
Myroslav Skoryk (1938 – 2020)
Dytynstvo (Childhood)
Music from the film
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
Mykola Lysenko (1842 – 1912)
Elegie Op. 41, No. 3
Orchestra version by Vsevolod Sirenko and Hobart Earle (2021)
Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007)
Piano Concerto No. 3 “Ave Maria”
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)
Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 43 (1901)
Tamara Stefanovich Piano
Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra
Hobart Earle Conductor
An event of the Berliner Festspiele/ Musikfest Berlin in cooperation with the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and with the support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
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