The International Chamber Music Course ended in Ostroh

July 02, 2018

The Ostroh International Chamber Music Course, which was being held at the National University of Ostroh Academy, ended with a grandiose concert yesterday.

During the week, participants from France, England, Belgium, Israel, Sweden, Italy, and Ukraine attended lectures by the world-renowned professors: Nataliia Pasichnyk (piano) and Leonid Kerbel (violin). The result of their work was almost a two-hour long concert, during which Handel’s, Kosenko’s, Mozart’s, Sjögren’s, Lysenko’s, Kreisler’s, Frank’s and other famous composers’ pieces of music sounded.

"In Ukraine, music education is mostly aimed at the upbringing of the soloists, whereas chamber music is somehow a distracting-from-the-main-specialty subject which is just supposed to be passed. However, the chamber music constitutes the most part of the European music market, and it is the chamber music which is the highest manifestation of making music for me as a musician. I wanted to provide a platform where the young musicians from Ukraine and Europe could meet through such musical communication. Music is the most civilized language, which was given to humanity as a gift, and I wanted to give an opportunity to enjoy communicating via music beyond the borders of the nationality, age, and mastery. Most of the Ukrainian children cannot afford to pay 2000 euros for such courses in Europe, so I decided to launch them in Ukraine and granted my personal fellowship to twelve children to participate in such courses. These are the kids who I personally selected, when I was at the International Tchaikovskyi Competition and the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz last year, as well as in partnership with the NGO "Responsible Future" which, among the other things, takes care of the talented displaced children. The geographical scope of the participants is really impressive," commented Nataliia Pasichnyk, organizer of the event, Ukrainian-Swedish pianist, founder and Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Sweden.

Mrs. Pasichnyk is extremely glad that Leonid Kerbel, renowned Belgian violinist who already has 25 years of experience of holding such forums, joined the preceptorial composition. The organizer consciously chose a unique place for holding the event, since the National University of Ostroh Academy is the first educational institution in Eastern Europe. She hopes that this course will become annual and be an impetus to set in motion such initiatives throughout Ukraine.

"It is a very cool experiment to come to the historic town of Ostroh in order to share experience with the other participants of the course. Lecturers Nataliia Pasichnyk and Leonid Kerbel are really impressing with their skills to teach the mastery of music," shared her impressions Miriam Liljefors from Sweden.