1991 Project presents: Ukrainian Resonance: “Siimurg,”
Please note that doors close 15 minutes after the start of the event, and that entry will be refused after this time.
This concert presents a multidisciplinary project initiated during the flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén and the visual artist Aino Koski’s 2017 residency at the Cité internationale des Arts in Paris. The vibrant cultural life of Paris served as a profound source of inspiration for the artists, motivating them to create a project exploring connections between music and visual arts.
Program
Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Syrinx
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), Fantasie Nr.2 for flute solo
Grave–Vivace–Adagio–Allegro
Lesia Dychko (b.1939), Partita for flute solo
Intrada–Rondo–Dialogue–
Viktor Kaminsky (b.1953), “Urlicht – Irrlicht” for the flute of solo
Elisar Riddelin: Siimurg, for flute, electronics, visual artist, and poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo (2021) (French premier)
Siimurg: An Interdisciplinary Project for Flute and Visual Art
The interaction between music and visual arts has been vastly explored over the centuries. These two art forms have been deeply intertwined, often expressed through meaningful friendships and collaborations among musicians, visual artists, and writers, who have inspired one another over generations. One of the most notable periods of such cross-pollination occurred in Paris during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time, artists from diverse disciplines converged, shaping modernist expression and revolutionizing both the visual and musical arts.
As part of her doctoral studies, Iryna commissioned the work Siimurg from composer Elisar Riddelin. Aino Koski and Iryna Gorkun-Silén have performed numerous concerts together in Finland. Their collaborative exploration of music and live visual arts has broadened the interactions between these mediums. Siimurg, the piece being premiered tonight, is the culmination of their long collaboration and represents a significant milestone in their artistic journey. To the best of our knowledge, this is likely the first work ever written specifically for flute and live visual arts.
Elisar Riddelin describes Siimurg as a piece that does not attempt to explain or resolve the themes of loss and grief present in the poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo, as these works appear in the performance. Instead, the composition invites the audience to reflect on the process of sorrow, suggesting that while there may be no definitive answers, the passage of time can lead to understanding and acceptance.
Performers
Aino Koski is a freelance scenographer and visual artist based in Helsinki. She works with various dance groups and theatres, designing site specific performances, contemporary dance pieces, musicals and traditional theatre plays. Aino Koski graduated from The University of Art and design Helsinki in 2012. She studied in Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and participated in workshops in Paris, Istanbul, and Copenhagen, among others. www.ainokoski.com
The Ukrainian-born flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén has performed as a soloist in chamber music ensembles and with orchestras in Europe, the United States, and South Korea. She holds a Master of Arts in Performance and a Master of Arts in Pedagogy from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, where she studied with Prof. Philippe Racine. She is about to complete her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy, DocMus, in Helsinki. Iryna has participated in numerous masterclasses with prominent flutists and conductors and has won prizes at international flute competitions in France, Ukraine, Italy, and Switzerland. Since 2023, she has been working as a cultural producer for the Ukrainian Association in Finland.
Sebastian Silén is a Finnish violinist and artistic researcher. A doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he explores Jean Sibelius’s works for violin and piano from a Nordic perspective. Sebastian also performs as a soloist, a chamber- and orchestral musician, and his first CD recording, which includes works by Pacius, Kajanus, and Sibelius, was published in 2021.
Ukrainian Resonance: Chamber Music Concerts at Reid Hall
The 1991 Project presents a chamber music concert series featuring performances by Ukrainian musicians affected by war, as well as their renowned international colleagues, who are popularizing the Ukrainian repertoire. The series aims to promote Ukrainian music and highlight its deep connections to European cultural trends.
As the 2023-24 project-in-residence at the Reid Hall Displaced Artists Initiative, the 1991 Project has organized six concerts, as well as co-organized events in partnership with Eastern Circles, the Arts Arena, the Zadkine Museum, and the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. This followed their inaugural series, the Silvestrov Days in Paris in spring 2023, which celebrated one of Ukraine’s greatest contemporary composers.
This series is organized by the 1991 Project, the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. We acknowledge the generous support of the EHA Foundation for making this concert possible.
