Modernist Dialogues: Ukrainian and Austrian Music in a Shared European Context
On 24 September, Paleiskerk in The Hague hosted “Modernist Dialogues,” a concert presented by Classical NOW! The programme brought together Ukrainian and Austrian music of the 20th and 21st centuries through works by Borys Liatoshynsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Maxim Shalygin.
Conceived as a musical dialogue between different generations and traditions, the programme invited audiences to explore Ukrainian and Austrian modernism within a shared European cultural context.
The evening opened with the Lyatoshynsky Trio — Mykhailo Zakharov, Suzanne Zambellan and Artem Yasynskyy — performing Borys Liatoshynsky’s Second Piano Trio, composed in 1942 during his evacuation from Kyiv. The programme continued with Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” in a version for piano trio.
In the second part of the evening, Ukrainian pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi performed Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata alongside works from Maxim Shalygin’s “Fetus Etudes.”
We are particularly pleased to see Ukrainian-Austrian cultural dialogue reaching audiences beyond our two countries. The project was realised through cooperation between the Ukrainian Institute in the Netherlands, the Austrian Embassy in The Hague and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the support of the Austrian Government.
Projects like this not only introduce Ukrainian music to international audiences but also help place it within the broader history of European modernism — in dialogue with the composers and musical traditions that shaped Europe’s twentieth-century cultural landscape.
Photo: Lera Manzovitova
