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Ivan Nebesnyy - "Message from Ukraine



Ivan Nebesnyy - Ukrainian composer




Ivan Nebesnyy (July 15, 1971, Ternopil) is a Ukrainian composer, music producer, and member of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine. He is a winner of the composer's competition "Gradus ad Parnassum" that is part of the International Youth Music Forum, Kyiv (1996, 1997). Nebesnyy is a laureate of the award named after Revutsky (2002); laureate of the award named after M. Verykivsky (2011); winner of the Kyiv Pectoral Theater Award (2011); laureate of the award named after B. Lyatoshynsky (2020).


He graduated from Lviv National Music Academy named after M. Lysenko in the composition class of M. Skoryk (1995). 1993 -- internship at the ZudwestFunk Experimental Electronic Music Studio, Freiburg, Germany. 1997 –– received a scholarship from KulturKontakt Austria, thanks to which he participated in the Fifth International Academy of New Music, Schwaz, Austria, where he studied composition with B. Schaeffer and electronic music with M. Kholonevsky.






For a long time, he directed the contemporary music ensemble "Cluster" (Lviv), which during its existence represented Ukrainian contemporary music in Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Austria, and Slovenia. At the same time "Cluster" was the first group of performers who presented works by many foreign composers in Ukraine, including composers from England, France, Switzerland, Germany, USA, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada. Since 2002 the composer lives in Kyiv, from 2006-to 2011 he has been the executive director of the International Music Festivals of Contemporary Classical Music KyivMuzikFest and the Youth Music Forum, Kyiv. From 2006 to the present Nebesnyy is a Director of the Center for Music Information of Ukraine.


In the process of creative search, the artist formed a wide range of interests, but the leading trend was a mix of genres, which is especially evident in the works "Air Music 2" for clarinet and tape (2006), "Four Ancient Edges" for soprano and male choir (2008), “Mechanical Anatomy of Sound 2” for piano, video and symphony orchestra (2011-2012), “God is with us” for soprano, mixed choir, children’s choir, folk instrument orchestra and rock band (2014).


Nebesnyy's works represent various directions that express relevant ideas - from somewhat illustrative to high concepts: from commercial music for 7 seconds to large-scale works for symphony orchestra or choir and music for theater performances. The eclectic thinking of the composer resulted in the work "Heavenly Shchedryk" for carillon, mixed choir, children's choir, symphony orchestra, and multimedia, the world premiere of which took place at the celebrating of the Independence Day of Ukraine in the central square of the capital (after "Revolution of Dignity"). It's dedicated to people who were killed during terrible events on Maidan in 2014. We call them "Heavenly Hundred" (about 100 people died and became Ukraine's "Heavenly Army"). It's based on "Shchedryk", a Ukrainian carol by M. Leontovych that is more popular as "Carol of the bells" in the USA.




                                              "Heavenly Shchedryk", 2014




The composer made a significant contribution to the musical and cultural life of Ukraine - serving for six years as music director of the International Music Festival "Kyiv Music Fest".

In personal communication, Ivan Nebesnyi notes that in his works  he tries to embody specific ideas that are relevant to his time. Music for the artist is a sphere of his deep thoughts, means of expressing patriotic beliefs. The composer also emphasizes that a person who is engaged in music must always be original.



"Message from Ukraine"(2014) is a symphonic work for electro-guitar, male choir, and symphony orchestra (text by Ukrainian Church canonical Service) written in 2014 when "Revolution of Dignity" happened in Ukraine.  Although, the composer wrote this work sometime before the events on the Maidan. "It is becoming harder and harder for people to listen to academic works in the classical format for 40-50 minutes. After all, we are used to receiving a lot of information in a very short period of time. Therefore, I tried in the form of a short message (7-8 minutes) to identify the main trends that, in my opinion, were characteristic of Ukrainian music at that time", - the composer said.




                                        "Message from Ukraine", 2014






Fragment from opera “Fox Mykyta”, opera in 2 acts based on the poem by Ivan Franko (2020) and premiered in Lviv, 2021.









List of compositions on the composer's website: http://nebesnyy.com/works/



- Diana Chubak



Comments

  1. CCM Students SP2022March 25, 2022 at 2:46 PM

    Hi Diana,

    Thanks for sharing these meaningful pieces from Nebesnyy. "Heavenly Shchedryk" reminds me of an elegy played by lute (or theorbo?) and Dies Irae theme. I really love the solemn atmosphere the piece makes.

    -Lydia Lee

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 28, 2022 at 8:49 AM

    Hi Diana! Thank you so much for sharing this post about Ivan. His pieces are so beautiful and moving, what a fantastic way to showcase the culture of Ukraine. I feel as though Ukraine is often left out of the curriculum in American conservatories, so I will definitely be adding him to my list to teach in the future. Your detailed biography on Ivan showcases his impressive resume, I wish that I had known about him sooner. His piece “Heavenly Shchedryk” ability to bring awareness to the tragedy that occurred in 2014 is so moving. I really enjoyed the wide variety of instruments included in his composing, it added so many levels to the texture of the piece. I would also be interested in hearing the rest of his opera “Fox Mykyta” as it is so current. Thank you for sharing! -Abby Ryan

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  3. UnknownApril 19, 2022 at 7:26 AM

    It's intriguing to see a composer navigate the duality of being a 'classical' composer (in the sense that he uses an orchestra at times) and a commercial composer that's writing for less than a cadence's worth of music - yet still making it relevant to the medium. I'll be interested to checkout the music he has that you spoke about during your presentation!

    JO

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownApril 20, 2022 at 9:41 PM

    Hi Dianna! I had various thoughts while listening to the music Message from Ukraine. In the music, the repeated melody of the flute seemed to show the current situation with Ukraine and Russia. And the performance of the intermediate electric guitar was impressive.
    - Haksung Lee

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownApril 22, 2022 at 2:06 PM

    Hi, Diana. I enjoyed reading your post! The piece that I enjoyed most was definitely "Message from Ukraine." I think it was very smart of the composer to split the piece into smaller 7-8 minute sections. This definitely makes it more accessible to a mainstream audience. Additionally, I like that it includes a guitar part. The classical world could always use more pieces with guitar parts! Thanks for sharing! - Noah Ward

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