Concerts from National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Celebrate Central European Classical Musical Modernism and Benign Nationalism

Concerts from National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., celebrate Central European classical musical modernism and benign nationalism:

June 13
Hartmut Rohde, violist
Mykola Suk, pianist
Music by Bloch, Hindemith, Kolessa, and Zimmermann
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
12:10 p.m.
West Building Lecture Hall

June 17
Boris Krajný, pianist
Derek Katz, lecturer
Music by Janáčk, Ježek, Klein, Schulhoff, and Slavický
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
6:30 p.m.
East Building Auditorium

June 20
Vilmos Szabadi, violinist
Gergely Szokolay, pianist
Music by Bartók, Dohnányi, Gershwin, Kurtág, and Szokolay
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
12:10 p.m.
West Building Lecture Hall

June 24
Nina Kuzma-Sapiejewska, pianist
Music by Scriabin, Szymanowski and other central European composers
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
6:30 p.m.
West Building, West Garden Court

June 27
Elisabeth von Magnus, soprano
Jacob Bogaart, pianist
Music by Berg, Eisler, Schindler-Mahler, and Zemlinsky
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
12:10 p.m.
West Building Lecture Hall

July 1
Royal String Quartet
Music by Szymanowski and Webern
Presented in honor of Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918–1945
6:30 p.m.
West Building, West Garden Court



















Fathers and Sons. Filiaret (1871–1947) and Mykola (1903 - 2006) Kolessa.

Filiaret Kolessa (1871–1947) was a musicologist, folklorist, and composer. A graduate of the Universities of Lviv and Vienna, he taught at several gymnasia in Galicia before being appointed Professor at Lviv University in 1939. He has written extensively on Ukrainian folk songs and dumas while his studies on Subcarpathian, Polisian, and Lemko folk songs were pioneering works on Ukrainian musical dialects.

Mykola Kolessa (1903-2006) was a prominent Ukrainian composer and conductor, born in the village of Sambir near Lviv. His father Filaret was a prominent Ukrainian ethnomusicologist and composer and his cousin was the celebrated pianist Lubka Kolessa. He studied in Prague under Vitezslav Novak and Otakar Ostrcil. His works include two symphonies (1950 and 1966), symphonic variations (1931), a 'Ukrainian Suite' (1928) and 'In the Mountains' (1972), all for orchestra, and a number of chamber and incidental works as well as song cycles and piano works.

Photo credits: (c) University of Toronto and Czech Radio. With thanks.