Programme

Frédéric Chopin
Four Mazurkas, Op. 17

Serhij Bortkiewicz
Three Mazurkas, Op. 64
Nocturne, Op. 24

Theodor Akimenko
Idylle, Op. 16
Clair de lune

Claude Debussy
Clair de lune

Robert Schumann
Fantasiestücke

Serhij Bortkiewicz
Fantasiestücke

A piano evening between Romanticism and Impressionism – between Ukrainian and European musical traditions. The programme “From Kharkiv to Paris” combines works by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Serhij Bortkiewicz and Theodor Akimenko. The focus is on two composers born in Kharkiv – Bortkiewicz and Akimenko – whose life paths led them far across Europe. They spent their formative years far from their homeland, including in Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Their music bears the marks of European cultural centres while remaining closely connected to the Ukrainian musical soul. The works feature late-Romantic fullness of sound, poetic melancholy, Impressionistic colours and dancing elegance. Lines of inspiration to Chopin, Schumann and Debussy become audible, without the two Ukrainian composers losing their own musical voice. Particularly fascinating is the musical dialogue of the works: Chopin’s Mazurkas meet Bortkiewicz’s Ukrainian-influenced Mazurkas, Akimenko’s poetic Clair de lune enters into a silent dialogue with Debussy’s renowned sound world, and Schumann’s Fantasiestücke are reflected in Bortkiewicz’s Fantasiestücke. An evening about memory, exile, longing and the subtle connections between Kharkiv, Paris and European musical history.