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In residence at Groupe le Vivier since last fall, Ukrainian artist Alla Zagaykevych has come full circle in Montreal. In this second concert-portrait of her, she presents four works from her repertoire, including a world premiere and a previously unpublished transcription.
Links have been forged between the composer and Quebec performers Pamela Reimer (piano), Lyne Allard (violin), Hubert Brizard (violin), Marie-Annick Béliveau (mezzo-soprano – Chants Libres), Corinne René (percussion – PSM) and the Quasar Saxophone Quartet.
Far from the real danger she will have to deal with again the day after her custom-made program promoted by Le Vivier, on Wednesday at the Espace Bleu in the Wilder Building, Alla Zagaykevych sums up her stay in Montreal as “a kind of cinematic flashback in search of a new artistic identity as a composer in wartime”.
The latest Montreal manifestations of her creative talent came on January 23 – an open rehearsal of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne gave us a nourishing first reading of the work “Et seul le roseau brille au soleil”, composed in Montreal. Evocative of his own perception of the ongoing armed violence in his country, the title refers us to the mystery of “Friend Li Bo. Brother Du Fu..” by the late writer Oleh Lysheha, whose poetic plot is set within a military unit deployed in a northern forest.
Inspired by the same author and premiered this Wednesday, “Song of Maiden” recalls the condition of a young bride who finds refuge in love songs, seeking to pick up the pieces of an existence broken by war.
Obviously, Alla Zagaykevych is not a pasionaria of the Ukrainian resistance, we feel in her nuance, sobriety and restraint in her words on the situation, which does not in any way question her allegiance. We must observe that the artist visibly prefers to express herself on the absurd violence of the armed aggression as a phenomenon first felt. She applies herself to map the emotions through her recent work.
Before returning to Kyiv, where she directs an electroacoustic program at the Conservatory, she talks to PAN M 360 and takes stock of the last months spent in Montreal.
PAN M 360: As an artist and musicologist, how do you experience the two languages spoken in Ukraine?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: I come from a family of university professors. My first language was Russian, but in this period of war, I do not speak Russian in Ukraine. However, I can speak it elsewhere – I have, for example, exchanged in Russian here in Montreal. I must also say that I lived in the western regions of Ukraine, regions quite close to Poland, I spoke Russian in my family but I went to Ukrainian school to study at first. At the age of 18, I started to do a lot of folklore research in Ukraine and discovered even more. I had the feeling that I was living in a bilingual environment but in times of war everything becomes black and white.
PAN M 360: It must be difficult to go home in the context. How do you experience it?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVICH: You know, there is a civil society in Ukraine, unlike many authoritarian countries in the region or elsewhere. Yes there is corruption, contradictions, you can see some nonsense done to the LGBTQ+ community… it’s very difficult to change things. But we are optimistic because we can count on a civil society, which can control part of our reality.
PAN M 360: What is your relationship with Quebec?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: When I spent some time at IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music) in Paris in 1995 and 1996, I met there (the Quebec composer) Serge Provost, who introduced me to the work of Claude Vivier. Afterwards, I founded an electroacoustic music studio at the Conservatoire where I invited Serge, who in turn invited Véronique Lacroix to play works by Anna Sokolovic and Jean Lesage.
PAN M 360: Away from the conflict zone, how did you find your way inside as an artist?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: I tried to choose themes and texts that were in tune with my spirit as an artist in residence whose country is in a time of war. With Jeffrey Stonehouse (Groupe Le Vivier’s artistic director), we put together programs that represent the work done here.
PAN M 360: Let’s go first with “Song of Maiden”, which premieres Wednesday.
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: “Song of Maiden”, which highlights a text by Oleh Lysheha. This poet is the inspiration for another work of mine performed by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (“Et seul le roseau brille au soleil”), although the text is not quoted as such – I can, however, represent its tone. I wrote “Song of Maiden” for Marie-Annick (Béliveau, mezzo-soprano) and Corinne (René, percussionist) because they had performed in my first portrait on October 16. They were very open to other experiments, to contrasts, and for me it is fantastic that Marie-Annick can sing so well in Ukrainian.
PAN M 360: Let’s take the creation of the transcription “The Saxophone Quartet/While Flying Up”:
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: This is a transcription of a string quartet (2009) that I reworked a lot afterwards. For the saxophones, the foundation becomes multiphonic and sonorous. And I know that Quasar is more than familiar with the multiphonic approach. I see this work as an electronic piece played by an instrumental ensemble. I’m saying the same thing but in a completely different language.
PAN M 360: Let’s go for “Keep Silence”.
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: The pianist (Pamela Reimer) improvises while listening to recorded electronic parts and consulting graphic scores. Something then invites the pianist to exert his performative energy. It is a kind of concerto with orchestra, a powerful concerto, very active, very personal.
PAN M 360: There is also “Inner Voices of Violin” with dedication.
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH : This is a duet for violins (Lyne Allard and Hubert Brizard) with live and pre-recorded electronics. The work is dedicated to Ivry Getlis (1920-2018), a very important French-Israeli violinist whose Jewish parents were natives of the Ukraine. Having met him, I believe that he understood many things in Ukraine, including anti-Semitism. It was important for me to go there because the Jewish culture has always been part of the Ukrainian culture with the atrocities that we know – we know that tens of thousands of Jews were killed in Kyiv at the beginning of the 1940s. So it is my response to the great Ivry Getlis to seek out this inner voice of the violin.
PAN M 360: Your language is vast and your use of popular or classical traditions could not be more contemporary. Do you agree with that?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: When, for example, I use song or very little known folklore, I treat this material as a sound object as a notion of electroacoustics. My instrumental music is also situated in the spectral exploration. Now, in the context of my reality of war which becomes an artistic matter, it is a question of knowing when and how I can evoke it pertinently.
PAN M 360: Your background as a musicologist, instrumental composer or electroacousticist, including opera and symphonic music, makes you unique. How do you explain this wide range of interests?
ALLA ZAGAYKEVYCH: It comes from my experience with different communities, my relationship with different types of musicians. I’m also involved in the world of film, which requires real collaborative work. I dare to believe that I, as a Ukrainian, participate in the development of the world musical language. My position is in the middle of all this. One cannot say exactly what I do and that’s fine!
PROGRAM
- Yuliya Zakharava: Oj Tap Song for voix, corps et percussions de la pianiste
- Alla Zagaykevych: Inner Voices of Violin (dédicace à Irvy Getlis) for violons et électronique live et pré-enregistrée
- Alla Zagaykevych: The Saxophone Quartet/While Flying Up , 2009 – 2022 for saxophone quartet – premiere
- Alla Zagaykevych: Song, to text by Oleh Lysheha , 2023 for voix de soprano, percussions et électronique – premiere
- Alla Zagaykevych: To keep silence for piano solo et électronique enregistré
PARTICIPANTS
- Yuliya Zakharava : Oj Tap Song
- PAMELA REIMER (piano)
- Alla Zagaykevych : Inner Voices of Violin
- LYNE ALLARD (violin)
- HUBERT BRIZARD (violin)
- Alla Zagaykevych : The Saxophone Quartet/While Flying Up
- QUASARMARIE-CHANTAL LECLAIR (soprano saxophone)TOMMY DAVIS (alto saxophone)ANDRÉ LEROUX (tenor saxophone)JEAN-MARC BOUCHARD (baritone saxophone)
- Alla Zagaykevych : Song of Maiden, to text by Oleh Lysheha
- CHANTS LIBRESMARIE-ANNICK BÉLIVEAU (soprano)
- PRODUCTIONS SUPERMUSIQUE (PSM)CORINNE RENÉ (percussions)
- Alla Zagaykevych : To keep silence
- PAMELA REIMER (piano)
INFOS + TICKETS FOR THIS CONCERT PRESENTED BY GROUPE VIVIER AT WILDER BUILDING, WEDNESDAY, 19H30
