"Baroque in Yellow and Blue – a Swedish-Ukrainian music weave" presented exciting and little-known Ukrainian polyphony from the 17th century, intertwined with baroque dances from the Swedish Düben Collection. On Early Music Day 2025 (see below) the sonorous vocal PARTES Ensemble from Kyiv performed alongside the internationally renowned harpsichordist Mariangiola Martello, in the magnificent acoustics of the German Church in Stockholm. The PARTES Ensemble was conducted by Nataliia Khmilevska.
You can view the concert under this link.
At the heart of the program was Ukrainian Baroque composer Mykola Dyletsky, a pioneer and central figure in Eastern European music history. He was paired with a contemporary of him, Gustaf Düben, Swedish organist and Kapellmeister, famous for his collection of European scores. This concert was a harmonious yet contrasting musical experience, with a message of peace.
The concert was organized by the Stockholm Early Music Festival team, in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine in Stockholm and the support of Ukraine Culture Network members Christian Schoenenberger, former ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine and Sweden, and Maria Söderberg, president of the Torsten Söderberg Foundation.
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2025
Location: THE GERMAN CHURCH SVARTMANGATAN 16 A, Old Town of Stockholm
About the PARTES Ensemble
The PARTES Ensemble was founded in 2019, as a part of the project “Musica sacra Ukraina” of Open Opera Ukraine (Kyiv). The project explores Ukrainian polyphonic (partes) singing of the 17th-18th centuries. It covers one of the most significant, original - but little-studied - areas of Ukrainian music history. Anna Hadetska is program director of Open Opera Ukraine. Nataliia Khmilevska is artistic director and conductor of the PARTES Ensemble.
“Musica sacra Ukraina” is a platform for interaction of scientists, musicians, culture managers and curators. Their aim is to raise interest for early Ukrainian music. The format of the project is a 'laboratory'. This means that a music piece is explored from processing and decoding the manuscript to its performance.
MYKOLA DYLETSKY is one of the most famous Ukrainian composers of the XVII century. He represents the musical history of Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, as he studied at the Vilnius Jesuit Academy, worked in Moscow and Smolensk, but, according to his colleagues, remained "a citizen of Kyiv". Dyletsky's masterpieces have had a significant impact on the development of music both in Ukraine and beyond.
More information:
https://operahouse.od.ua/en/events/ukrainian-barocco/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK4N3ecwqYA&t (YouTube)
https://www.openopera.com.ua/partesnij-vimir?lang=en
About the Early Music Day on March 21 – the international day for early music
Founded in 2013 as an initiative by Peter Pontvik, former president of REMA (European Early Music Network), and coordinated by REMA, the EARLY MUSIC DAY is celebrated each year on March 21 – J. S. Bach's birthday and the first day of spring. In 2025 its 13th edition took place under the patronage of the European Commission, being celebrated throughout Europe and also outside the continent with concerts, seminars and other events, several of which are broadcast locally and through EBU (European Broadcasting Union). The Early Music Day connects initiatives on a national level into a joint European manifestation that simultaneously highlights local features and the common ground of the continent’s musical history.
More information:
www.earlymusicday.eu
https://www.earlymusicsweden.se/evenemang/emd/
https://www.semf.se/series/early-music-day-2024
