In St. Cyril’s Church, the works of the Italian composer will be played on an ancient Ukrainian instrument.
On May 6, a concert “Baroque Magic” performed by the Lyk Domer Chamber Orchestra will be held in the unique architectural monument of Kyiv.
“Lyk Domer” is an orchestra with a unique composition, founded by the outstanding musician and composer Valery Ivko in Donetsk in 1992. The name “Lyk Domer” is symbolic. Just such an inscription found in the 17th century “Apocalypse” comments on a pictorial image of a musician playing the domra. In liturgical books, the choir is called a choir (from the Greek – “gathering”, “cathedral”, “sonm”), that is, in the modern sense, a group of musicians-performers. The conceptual core of the orchestra is precisely in the sobrality as a synonym of spiritual unity.
The last concert of the first composition of “Lyk Domer” took place in April 2014 in Donetsk at the “Isolation” cultural center, where the group presented a program mainly of works by Ukrainian composers.
In the following months of the tragic 2014, the orchestra continued its life in Kyiv with a renewed composition. Today “Lyk Domer” gathered talented young people from Luhansk, Donetsk, Bakhmut, Mariupol, Kryvyi Rih, Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, Lviv. Svitlana Bilousova, student, colleague, artist of the orchestra’s first line-up, continues the work of Valery Ivka, who passed away in February 2022.
The orchestra is the winner of the Grand Prix of the international competition of the European Association of Folklore Festivals and a multiple participant of international music festivals of classical music.
The orchestra has 15 instruments from the domra family, among them: domra prima — 7, domra alto — 3, domra tenor -3, domra bass — 2. The music of different eras, original works and arrangements of jazz compositions sound in a new way in the domra performance.
This time, “Lyk Domer” prepared a program of Vivaldi’s music, translated by the founder of the collective, Valery Ivka.
“Baroque aesthetics resonates with a sense of lust for life, enjoyment, all that is given by nature. This determines the appeal to the music of that era now, in this difficult time, – she told “Vechirnyi Kyiv” head and conductor of the “Lyk Domer” orchestra Svitlana Bilousova. — Baroque music sounds extremely natural on the domra. After all, acoustically, the sound of the domra is reminiscent not only of a mandolin, to which it is similar in terms of the principle of sound production, but also close in timbre to a harpsichord. And these instruments were popular in the Baroque era. Given the difficult history of the instrument, whose Ukrainian roots go back to Ancient Russia, such a chamber orchestra of Domrists is unique in Ukraine. Analogues of such groups, only mandolin, are in Italy, where they are popular and respected.”
According to her, the repertoire of the home orchestra is carefully selected, and a part of it is translated taking into account acoustic features. First of all, works written for other instruments, but which sound impressively on the domra, are chosen. For example, many Baroque composers, including Vivaldi, created their compositions taking into account the tuning, so the same piece could be performed on different instruments. Composers could immediately write works with the possibility of performing them on different instruments.
The peculiarity of the orchestra is laid down in the principles of the performing school of the orchestra’s founder Valery Ivka and consists in intoned virtuosity, notes Svitlana Bilousova. When the smallest intonation is spoken, even at a very fast pace. The interpretation of music is explained, in particular, by the feeling of the energy of musical time, which can be materialized with the help of intonation. And thereby create a kind of magic, which led to the name of the concert – “Magic of the Baroque”.
In addition to the well-known “Seasons” series of concerts, other Vivaldi concerts will be performed: concerto for 2 mandolins in G major, concerto grosso in D minor, concerto for 2 violins in A minor. This is a unique opportunity to hear baroque masterpieces in a new sound.
Baroque magic. Vivaldi
When: May 6 at 6:00 p.m
Where: Cyril’s Church, st. O. Telighy, 12
Ticket prices: 300 hryvnias
