“With the sound bow, the busy violinist Elena Neff Zhunke builds a bridge between Ukraine, her country of origin, and Switzerland, her place of life. With the Sinfonietta she founded, she presents expressive programs with classical, modern and folkloric music from both countries full of colors, Hope and joy.” (string magazine)

The program “Light and Shadow” includes works by the Ukrainian composer Wassyl Barvinskyi, rector of the Lviv Music Academy, who was deported to forced labor in the Gulag between 1948 and 1958 because of his political views. His variations, like almost all of his works, were burned. Fortunately, he was able to reconstruct thirty of his works after his return. Victoria Vita Poleva, a student of Arvo Pärt, also had to flee the Russian attack to Switzerland in 2022. Her work “The Soul”, which reflects the rocky path of a human soul, was written specifically for our cast.

As a contrast to this more shadowy music, the Sinfonietta Sankt Gallen presents, as a bright spot in the program, the string quintet “Pavane Couleur du Temps” by a contemporary of Barwinskyi, the French-speaking Swiss Frank Martin, as well as the magnificent 30-minute piano quintet by his teacher Gabriel Fauré. Next year the music world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Frank Martin’s death and exactly the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré’s death.