An evening of chamber music "Elegies and Memories" was held in New York City in the concert hall of the Ukrainian Institute of America. Prominent musicians performed works of Ukrainian, American and European composers. In particular, the program included the premiere of a composition honoring the memory of those who died as a result of a missile attack on the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv.
This was reported by Ukrainian Institute of America.
The program included works by Ukrainian composer Alla Zahaykevych (Red Flowers, 2023), as well as Laurie Lightman (Long Pond Revisited, 2002), Katherine Needleman (Land Where My Fathers Died, 2022-2023) - an original composition combining elements of American folklore and classical tradition, and one of Mozart's most famous works - Oboe Quartet in F Major, which demonstrated the exceptional technical skills of the performers.
The event also featured the North American premiere of Anna Kuzina-Rozdestvensky's Monologue of the Soul (2024), which the author dedicated to the memory of the victims of the missile attack on the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv.
The performers on stage were Randall Scarlata (baritone), a world-renowned artist praised by the New York Times as an "intelligent and communicative singer," Katherine Needleman (oboe), the first oboist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Hanzhi Wang (accordion), the first accordionist in the 60-year history of Young Concert Artists, and Ukrainian violinist, professor at the University of Connecticut and Longy School of Music and Artistic Director of Music at the Institute Solomiya Ivakhiv (violin), member of the Daedalus Quartet, professor at Columbia and Princeton Universities Jessica Thompson (viola), and legendary American cellist, chamber musician, and teacher Marcy Rosen (cello).
The event concluded with a performance by the Mozart Quartet, a symbolic reminder of the power of classical music to unite different generations and cultures.
For reference: Music at the Institute (MATI) is the 37th season of concerts presenting classical and contemporary music from Ukraine, Europe, and the United States at the Ukrainian Institute of America. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Solomiya Ivakhiv, MATI continues to bring Ukrainian musical heritage to the American public and support contemporary composers.
Photo: Ukrainian Institute of America
Author: Inna Mikhno