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A round of applause for
Prayers in the Night
.
Thursday evening, the work of Olga Vitkorova, a renowned Russian-Ukrainian composer, was given for the very first time, during the classical music festival La Folle Journée de Nantes, at the Cité des Congrès.
If this composition was part of the theme “
Ode to the night
”, it also took on a particular meaning linked to the war in Ukraine.
“
It echoes the news.
It was dense, powerful music, with a glimmer of hope
”, says Raphaël Sévère, clarinettist, who was playing one of the internationally known works of the artist for the first time.
"
In the middle, you have a military passage
" continues the French musician, accompanied on stage by three Russians and a Frenchman.
When the melodies of the instruments, violin-cello-piano-clarinet-flute, overlapped, the intensity was real, before giving way to much softer passages.
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“
The note-shaped beads fall directly into my hands.
I take them and put them together
,” describes Olga Viktorova with grace and delicacy.
According to René Martin, the director of La Folle Journée, who commissioned the work from her, she has an incredible “
sense of writing
”.
A sense of musical but also literary writing.
When Marina Bower, his agent, translates his answers into French, the metaphors follow one another.
The logic of my work is that of a prayer that brings the human being back from despair, from protest towards light, harmony.
Olga Viktorova, Russian-Ukrainian composer, guest of La Folle Journée
On the occasion of this "
concert event
" which had a huge audience, René Martin was keen to choose "
the best possible performers
", ie musicians of excellent level.
He had also programmed Olivier Messiaen 's
Quatuor pour la fin des temps
during these 65 minutes of performance .
Chance or coincidence, he was totally unaware that this composer, one of the greatest in the world of contemporary music of the 20th century, was the source of inspiration for Olga Viktorova: "
He wrote his work during the war , when he was interned in camps.
There was a deep spirituality in his writing.
»
René Martin, director of La Folle Journée, and Olga Viktorova, Russian-Ukrainian composer.
LT/Le Figaro
A spirituality shared by the artist born in Ukraine, in the Donbass, in 1960. “
The logic of my work is that of a prayer which brings the human being back from despair, from protest towards light, harmony.
By bringing love and mercy to those who need it, we can all together restore harmony on our dear planet Earth
”, recounts the believer, who regularly cites the existence of a creator of divine nature, without associating it with a particular religion.
"
Every day, I send to each of these countries, Russia or Ukraine, my prayers
", continues with devotion the daughter of a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother.
Against the backdrop of classical music, in the space dedicated to the press, the composer confides peacefully: “
I imagine these two countries at peace again because they are united by the same culture, the same religion, the same history.
They are two brothers who can bicker as children, but when each becomes an adult, they will support and help each other.
Everything needs time...
"
Going to Russia to study music
Born in Ukraine, Olga Viktorova now lives in Yekaterinburg, in eastern Russia, far from the border with her native country.
Despite these thousands of kilometers apart, “
the conflict is in our hearts.
It's not the distance that matters
."
Besides, all his childhood memories are Ukrainian.
It was there that, at the age of 10, a piano tuner detected his talent: “
He asked my parents that I play to check that everything was fine.
Hearing me, he said to my parents: "in your place, I would send him to the conservatory in Kharkiv"
".
No sooner said than done.
It was also during these years that she met her husband Dmitri Less, who had become an illustrious conductor.
From the piano, she gradually turns to composition.
And joined Russia for his studies.
Read alsoWar songs, an act of resistance by Ukrainian musicians
Today, Olga Viktorova maintains strong ties with her Ukrainian friends: “
My friends and relatives are absolutely unaffected by the war at the moment and I live with this faith.
I think of them every day.
I'm trying to find the shelter of our creator.
This is how I survive and wait for the end of the conflict
”, she says, with relief and thanks to Heaven.
According to the news she has, the music lessons are given online, via the internet, but “
the musicians continue to play.
For them, it's the only way to survive.
As she suggests, "
Music doesn't need any spoken word, it speaks from the soul
."
The music also transcends language barriers.
VS'
Prayers in the night
, of which Nantes had the premiere, will subsequently be presented in Russia, in Ekaterinburg, and probably in Moscow.
Two French and three Russians interpreted the work of Olga Viktorova.
A beautiful symbol of "unity" for the Russian-Ukrainian artist.
LT/Le Figaro
