"Will sing life again ..."
The story of Victoria Amelina and this year’s commissioned work by Bohdana Frolyak.
Around half past seven in the evening on June 27, 2023, the Ukrainian author and war correspondent Victoria Amelina visited a pizza restaurant with colleagues in Kramatorsk. Four days later she died from injuries sustained in an attack on civilians, which also killed 12 others. She left behind her husband Sasja, and son Andrij aged 12.
One of the most important methods for winning a war is to remove a country’s cultural history. This applies to all wars of invasion. Remove a people and its history, and there is no more identity worth protecting or fighting for.
Roads, bridges and houses can be rebuilt. If you burn books and pictures, erase history, and kill the artists who create and tell stories, you have lost much more of what gives life meaning beyond our most basic needs.
Therefore, it is vitally important for us as a festival to support this year’s commissioned work. The Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak has just sent her finished work to the artists in Nordic Voices and Gryphon Trio to study.
Bohdana chose this poem for three main reasons: The pain it reflects in a reality no one can imagine, but still with a shimmer of light and hope within. The poem also tells a story conveyed by a mother, sister, and daughter, which all Ukrainians can reflect on, regardless of gender.
Bohdana herself has a son who is fighting at the front. She states in an email correspondence with us that she is both scared and happy. Scared for her son and Ukraine, but also happy that she gets to visit Risør and tell the story of her country.
1991 marked the beginning of the Risør Chamber Music Festival and the year Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union. This year marks 80 years since the liberation of Norway, and it is therefore worth highlighting this year’s festival theme: “Freedom?” For Ukraine, the question mark in the theme is something we will reflect on during this year’s festival.
“Will sing life again…” will be performed at the concert “What Now, Europe?”, where works by Beethoven and Caroline Shaw will also be featured. Buy tickets and take an important stand: Culture must be supported, especially when times are darkest.
