- Stacey Shevlin
Contrasts Music Festival Lviv
This post will keep evolving as we attend more events associated with the festival. The main aim of the festival is to present modern Ukrainian music within the world context. The program widely presents different generations of Ukrainian composers. Special attention is paid to the Western European music, classics of the 20th century in particular.
“Contrasts” Music Festival does not tend to be an anthology of contemporary styles and trends and doesn’t attempt to present everything worthwhile in modern music. But despite this, the listener can hear a lot of works that are indicative of the times and modern music in general. (Description from the Contrasts Website).
The first event we attended was an amazing piano soloist performing several pieces by Phillip Glass. You can read more about Phillip Glass HERE. It was a wonderful performance in the beautiful building you see below.
We attended a lunchtime show that was part of Contrasts Music Festival at Dyzga Art Bar. It seems that there is always something happening in this space it’s wonderful. You can visit their site HERE.
The event we attended was a very avant-garde performance featuring Cello, Flute and Bass Clarinet. It was not exactly what I expected. I try to push my boundaries when it comes to musical appreciation, but I still come up short sometimes. While I respect new ideas in musical composition and new expressions, I can’t say I always ‘like’ them. It was a good experience with talented musicians, but just not to my personal taste.
We had the pleasure of listening to an orchestra in St. Peter and Paul church as part of the Contrasts series. The cello pieces were deeply moving. We tried to get tickets, but we waited too long. The lovely woman at the Philharmonic box office explained to us (via hand gestures and a small game of charades) that the event was sold out, but we could go and listen for no cost in the standing room section at the back of the church. It was a wonderful concert and free on top of that. Plenty of people were in attendance standing, so it felt just fine.
You can see a full program HERE