Information | kyivvirtuosi

MOZARTEUM BRASILEIRO

Dear Mr. Yablonsky:
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us (even through this e-mail). We look forward to welcoming you to São Paulo.
Below are some questions. I hope you agree with them. Feel free to answer whatever you prefer.
We are at your disposal in São Paulo and hope you all have a great stay with us.
1) Please, tell us about Kiev Virtuosi - how did the orchestra come about, what conditions gave birth to the orchestra? Kyiv Virtuosi is a symphonic ensemble of which is the chamber ensemble that will perform in São Paulo?

Years of friendship and collaboration between a group of talented Ukrainian musicians, laureates of international competitions and me, lead to the forming of the Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra. The audience was immediately impressed by the high performing skills of the orchestra, their choices of the selected musical repertoire and innovative ways of presentation. Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra became the most demanded ensemble in Ukraine.
During the Orchestra’s first season, the orchestra performed more than 120 concerts in Ukraine, Israel, Azerbaijan, Spain, Switzerland, and other countries. Immediately after its inception, I was fortunate to become the Orchestra’s first chief conductor and artistic director of the Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra. The Orchestra was created in 2016. It is the first private orchestra in Ukraine.
2) Please tell us about the concert that Kyiv Virtuosi will perform in São Paulo. There ill be a program, which includes music by Ukrainian composers and this is very interesting. What do you try to show through this program.

- Coming to Sao Paolo is very special to me because in 1982, when I came to Campo de Jordau for the first time with my teacher Aldo Parisot. It has always been very difficult to perform in front of a very educated audience. I always think about how a local audience will greet us, how they would like our performances. Among musicians and conductors, your audience is considered to be one of the most intelligent audiences in South America. On this upcoming tour I have chosen to play some solo cello concertos on top of conducting the rest of the program. I have chosen to perform a cello concerto by Berliner, which is a very special piece of music for me. This will be the Brazil’s premier of this concerto. Any time you perform new music with a
composer in the audience, it is always a very special moment.

3) As an artist, what does this Orchestra give you?

– First of all, it gives me an opportunity to work with people I love. We are all friends. Our personal and professional relationships got much stronger during the last year, for obvious reasons. Also, this Orchestra gave us many new opportunities to perform the music we love in the countries where some of them have never been. One of our sponsors gave the whole orchestra a gift of life – to live and work in Italy for a year. When you mention the word Italy – your mind automatically sets you up in a dream world, in the country where the word music and art has a different meaning.

4) Kyiv Virtuosi faced the challenges of the pandemic and then another huge challenge: war. How has the orchestra dealt with this situation? Can you please tell us how everything went from the war? – everone faces challenges in life.

They start before we are born. Some of them we deal with with our parents help: such as food, lodging, clothing, etc. Later in life, we must provide those things for ourselves and our children. In January of 2020 the whole world had to face the pandemic. Nobody knew what it was, and how to deal with it. The world became a war zone in every country. People were dieing left and right. The scary thing was that we didn’t know why people were dieing. They checked into hospitals, and never checked out. Two
years later, the war zone in Ukraine became a true “war zone”. But, deep down, we knew that whenever brothers kill brothers, it never has a happy ending. Any war is horrible. I have no words to describe this tragedy. We are based in Chieti, Italy and we are very thankful.

5) How is the orchestra keeping itself alive today?

- We were helped by our composer in residence Alexey Shor and Municipality in Chieti has given their beautiful theatre Marrucino as our home for the time being. We sincerely feel blessed to have a temporary home to work and to live where we are.

6) What are your future plans?

- We have many plans, many concerts around Italy, this tour to South America, tour to Korea, recordings, tour to USA next season etc.. On many occasions, our tours are billed as “Tour of Freedom”. It is amazing to see millions of people around the world who wish us and Ukraine to regain our freedom and prosperity.

7) A curiosity: in Kyiv Virtuosi we have a Ukrainian orchestra conducted by a Russian conductor. How do you deal with this situation today? Would the orchestra be an example of peace and coexistence between peoples that today are at war? – I hope so. I left the former Soviet Union 46 years ago as a young boy. Even though I was born in Moscow we see no difference in our cooperation, even though some people might use it as a political tool. My cello is my international passport, which is accepted
worldwide, at least for now. I will enjoy it for as long as I possibly can.

- Dmitry Yablonsky