An Elgar premiere amid air-raids in Kyiv

An Elgar premiere amid air-raids in Kyiv

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norman lebrecht

December 17, 2023

The conductor Natalia Ponomarchuk returned home from working as an assistant at the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a burning passion for the music of Edward Elgar.

To her surprise, neither of the symphonies has ever been performed in Ukraine. Natasha contacted the Elgar Society who offered subsidy for performances in the National Philharmonic Hall of Ukraine. The first concert will be on Wednesday.

Natasha tells Slipped Disc: ‘We are in rehearsal just now. It is a bit complicated because of permanent Russian shelling. Our first rehearsal on Thursday was interrupted three times by air aid alarms. We had to go down to the basement-shelter. Yesterday, the Russians attacked at night so we have time to prepare Elgar music carefully in daylight. No one knows what will happen in coming days… But we have strong hope to perform our concert and do the best that we can to introduce our audience to this music.’

Comments

  • mahler9 says:

    Which Elgar symphony? I love them both.

  • Peter San Diego says:

    Which symphony is being premiered?

  • PS says:

    Which stores more weapons, a hospital in Gaza or the National Philharmonic Hall of Ukraine? Just curious.

  • Stuart Merrylees says:

    That’s wonderful news. As a lover of all Elgar’s music and member of the Elgar Society and a growing admirer of Ukrainian culture, I’m looking forward to being able to visit my Ukrainian friends if and when they eventually return home. I had not occurred to me that we might all be able to go to hear Elgar together.

  • Yevgeniy says:

    I am terribly sorry, but Sir E. Elgar’s First Symphony was performed in Odessa by the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2015 with Hobart Earle (USA). You could have been more accurate with the information.

    Yevgeniy Kostrytskyy
    GSMD MMus, MMP Artist Fellow.
    LSO String scheme member
    2005/07

  • Richard Sabino says:

    Perhaps not quite a premiere. Elgar’s Second Symphony was premeired by the Academic Concert Orchestra in Kyiv in 2013. The conductor was Richard Sabino (USA). At the time the Elgar Society mentioned to me that Elgar had not be performed in Ukraine up to that point. Glad to see it may continue.

    (This performance is on YouTube.)

    Richard Sabino

  • Greg says:

    RVW next?

  • P. Terry says:

    So the original post is inaccurate.

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