The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, under the baton of its long-standing director, Volodymyr Sirenko, will present a programme based around the idea of national traditions open to cultural dialogue.

Born in the Lemko Region (Lemkovyna), Dmytro Bortniansky was one of the most interesting figures linking the musical traditions of Eastern and Western Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century. During a decade-long stay in Italy, he wrote the opera Quinto Fabio, about the fate of the ancient hero of the Second Samnite War, staged in Modena in 1778.

Contemporary Ukrainian composer Victoria Polevá sought inspiration in both the post-war avant‑garde and religious minimalism. The orchestral poem Langsam (German for ‘slowly’), completed in 1992, is a dialogue with the music of late German romanticism, especially the contemplative symphonic adagios of Gustav Mahler.

Poleva’s compatriot Yevhen Stankovych, meanwhile, refers to the ancient polyphony and musical traditions of his homeland. His Ancient Highland Dances of Verkhovyna, in which he alluded to traditional Hutsul music, adhere to the spirit of Bartókian vitalism.

One of the finest musical impressions from travels in the United States is Antonín Dvořák’s monumental Symphony No. 9 in E minor ‘From the New World’, Op. 95. In American multiculturalism, the Czech composer saw potential for the musical future.

Program:

Dmitry Bortniansky Overture to the opera Quinto Fabio 

Victoria Polevá: Langsam for symphony orchestra 

Yevhen Stankovich Ancient Mountain Dances of Verkhovyna 

Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in E minor ‘From the New World’, Op. 95