In the final concert of the KharkivMusicFest-2021 festival, the DUMKA choir together with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine will perform two outstanding works - Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Yevhen Stankovych's Passion for Taras.

Closing of the festival KharkivMusicFest-2021 is one of the largest and richest concerts of the festival in terms of depth and expressiveness. The program of the evening on April 24 includes the performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's most famous symphony - Symphony G9, as well as the premiere in Kharkiv of "Passions for Taras" by Yevhen Stankovych. Majestic works of Viennese and modern Ukrainian classics will be performed by the most famous choir of Ukraine - the National Choir of Ukraine "Dumka", and the main orchestra of the country - the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Both groups have more than 100 years of history and are ambassadors of Ukrainian culture abroad.

Ukrainian maestro, People's Artist of Ukraine Volodymyr Sirenko is recognized as the conductor. Since 1990 he has been the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. As a guest conductor he has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of the Krakow, Moscow, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and others. Performed on famous stages: Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Manuel de Falla Center (Granada), National Philharmonic Hall (Warsaw), Barbican Hall and Cadogan Hall (London), Seoul Art Center (Korea), Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), Theater on the Champs Elysees (Paris), the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

The concert will open with the work "Passions for Taras" by Yevhen Stankovych - a prominent Ukrainian composer, winner of the National Prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko. The work was written in 2013 for the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko. The very name "Passion for Taras" refers us to the majestic passions of Johann Sebastian Bach, which tell of the sufferings of Christ. As the author of "Passions зі" admits, for me it is a rather unusual piece of music. There was a desire to create a musical quintessence of spiritual, actual, cathedral principles on the basis of Kobzar's works. " The work was written for symphony orchestra, choir, and soloists. Solo parts will be performed by soloists of the National Opera of Ukraine Dmytro Kuzmin (tenor) and Oleksandr Boyko (baritone).

The second number of the concert program is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This work is considered one of the most outstanding works in the history of world music culture, which expresses the humanistic and freedom-loving ideals of mankind. To realize his grandiose idea, Beethoven seemed short of a symphony orchestra: he wanted to sing the brotherhood of all the people of the world united in a single burst of joy and freedom, and for this he introduced the choir and soloists to the finale of the symphony. The theme of the finale of the Ninth Symphony "Ode to Joy" was chosen as the anthem of the European Union. At the closing of KharkivMusicFest-2021 solo parts of the Beethoven masterpiece will be performed by soloists of the National Opera of Ukraine: Oksana Kramareva (soprano), Angelina Shvachka (mezzo-soprano), Dmytro Kuzmin (tenor), Serhiy Magera (bass).

*The publication is copied from the website kharkivmusicfest.com