[aaus-list] [HUSI 2008] LECTURE & FILM: Virko Baley, "Valentin Silvestrov and the Mythopoetic Imagination" -- 7-9 pm, Wed., July 30, 2008

[Seegel, Steven]

*** ANNOUNCEMENT *** 
 
*** 2008 HARVARD UKRAINIAN SUMMER INSTITUTE *** 
 
On Wednesday, July 30, 2008, the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute is honored to sponsor a lecture and film presentation by the critically acclaimed composer, Grammy award-winning producer, Virko Baley, Distinguished Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
 
*** The event is free and open to the public. 
 
Lecture and Film Presentation
"Valentin Silvestrov and the Mythopoetic Imagination" 

 

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 

7:00-9:00 PM

 

CGIS (Center for Government and International Studies) South Building

Room S-020: Belfer Case Study Room

Harvard University

1730 Cambridge Street

Cambridge MA 02138

 
For directions on the Harvard campus: http://map.harvard.edu/
 
 
ABOUT THE COMPOSER 
 
Virko Baley, composer, conductor, pianist and writer, was born in Ukraine in 1938, but has spent most of his creative life in the United States. He is the recipient of the 1996 Shevchenko Prize for Music, awarded by the Ukrainian government. He is also the Petro Jacyk Distinguished Research Fellowship at the Ukrainian Research Institute for the academic year of 2006-2007 to continue work on his opera Red Earth (Hunger). 
 
In 2007 he was awarded a GRAMMY as recording producer for TNC Recordings for Best Instrumental Performance with Orchestra. He is an author of many articles on Ukrainian music, including many entries for GROVE. Shirley Fleming, reviewing a concert of his music in the New York Post called his music "vibrant, dramatic, communicative, much of it framed by extra-musical allusions that place it in a solid context." According to Village Voice critic Kyle Gann, the New York premiere of Violin Concerto No. 1, quasi una fantasia was full of "sonic images memorable enough to take home." 
 
His Symphony No. 1: "Sacred Monuments" released on TNC Recordings was commented in ClassicsToday by David Hurwitz as "Powerfully imagined, clearly articulated, and quite moving...It's a very serious ambitious statement by a gifted artist, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it turns out to have more staying power than many other contemporary works by today's trendier composers." 
 
In addition, Virko Baley co-produced and wrote the music for Yuri Illienko's film Swan Lake: The Zone, which won two top prizes at Cannes in 1990, and the music for Illienko's last film, Prayer for Hetman Mazepa. 
 
As conductor he has led the Kiev Camerata in recordings of over 15 CD's of orchestral music by composers ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Ivan Karabyts, Valentin Silvestrov, Bernard Rands to Yevhen Stankovych. Most recently Virko Baley received the prestigious Academy Award in Music 2008 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 
 
He is also the co-director of NEON, an annual composers' conference at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
 
 
ABOUT THE FILM PRESENTATION

 

Title: Valentin Silvestrov: Dialogs
Director: Dorian Supin
Producer: Reet Sokmann
Estonia, 2008
Duration: 52 minutes (draft version for European television)
  

Valentin Silvestrov is now recognized as one of the most important and greatest composers working now. Alfred Schnittke wrote: "I consider him one of the greatest and finest composers." 

In Dorian Supin, the film director's words: "The film is an attempt to come closer in the understanding of the creative personality. Any personality, and particularly a personality of this scale, is special. It always remains unexplained. We can only try to peek behind the curtain."



 
 
Dr. Steven Seegel
Director, 2008 Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute
Assistant Professor of History, Worcester State College
Harvard University
Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
34 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
office: (617) 496-6001
cell: (865) 437-7832
fax: (617) 495-8097