Antonii Baryshevskyi on Ukrainian musical tradition and avant-garde heritage
Since November 2024, VATAHA has partnered with SplenDoor to Ukraine, an engaging series of events dedicated to exploring the avant-garde sounds of Ukrainian music and arts. Ukrainian pianist and musician Antonii Baryshevskyi has long been a bridge between Kyiv’s vibrant musical traditions and audiences around the world. As a co-organizer of the series, Antonii strives to introduce the richness of Ukraine’s contemporary musical landscape to the global stage.
I sat down with Antonii at Splendor Amsterdam to dive into the world of Ukrainian music – an area I had not fully explored before. With his extensive background as a performer, Antonii shared his thoughts on the importance of promoting Ukrainian music and culture, as well as insights into the Ukrainian musical tradition and his personal musical journey.
Dasha Lohvynova: Hi Antonii! Could you briefly introduce yourself and what you do?
Antonii Baryshevskyi: Hi! I am Antonii Baryshevskyi, a Ukrainian musician and pianist. Sometimes, I also improvise and compose music, but I do not consider myself a composer. I grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, where I also studied. Later, I studied in Paris. My whole life, I have played mostly classical music but also lots of contemporary stuff, especially contemporary Ukrainian music. That is one of my focuses.
Since November [2024], we have started our series SplenDoor to Ukraine. I am a lucky temporary resident of Splendor Amsterdam, which allows me to organize some events here. Hence, I decided to start this series dedicated to Ukrainian arts and music.
DL: That’s great! As I understand it, the series will continue.
AB: Yes. We plan to continue with it because next year will be the 130th birthday of Borys Liatoshynsky, a significant figure in 20th-century classical music in Ukraine. We will have at least one concert dedicated to this anniversary.
We would like to showcase a wide range of styles and genres. Ukrainian music is not only classical but also experimental and even pop, as it was with Aircraft. We want to show its versatility and diversity.
DL: I would like to start by asking more about this exploration of Ukrainian musical heritage. As you said, you have extensive international experience studying abroad, living in the Netherlands, and having residency in a Dutch institution. How has your Ukrainian heritage influenced your artistic identity, and in which ways do you integrate it into your performances and your own practice?
AB: First of all, I feel that my performance school is mostly Ukrainian; however, I also had a lot of other influences. But since I grew up in Kyiv, Ukrainian teachers have educated me and helped me find my way in performing music. My education also influences what repertoire I choose. I think, especially in the last two years, it is really important to show people that we are not only fighting, but we have a great culture that was very often overshadowed by the culture of empires we were occupied by.
But I was interested in Ukrainian music even before the full-scale invasion. I am very sadly glad that there is more attention to it now. I hope people will also be interested in Ukrainian art without a reference to the war because this music is not only about war. It is also vital, sometimes funny, experimental, and sometimes abstract, as we see in avant-garde art.
But I was always interested in Ukrainian music even before the full-scale invasion. I am sadly glad that there is more attention to it now.
DL: The SplenDoor to Ukraine highlighted the key avant-garde composers of the 1960s. Could you elaborate more on the significance of this movement in the broader sense for Ukrainian 20th-century music and how their works still resonate with contemporary musicians or composers like yourself?
AB: I think it was really an explosion in the art of music, especially in Ukraine. Ukrainian musicians lived under the Iron Curtain, where information about Western art was little and distorted. But somehow, they managed to connect with Western art. At the same time, they made something unique and special, especially composers such as Valentyn Silvestrov, who developed into a unique author with a very original, charismatic style. Avant-garde scene musicians of the 1990s, such as Alla Zagaikevych, and Svyatoslav Lunyov show how people can create their own stuff, even if it is underground, even if nobody wants them on the stage. You just work to walk on your path.
It is very important to have an example of how people are passionate about what they believe in, without looking at the trends, or not even trends… They were against the official art, which was a total lie and totally uninteresting. They created great music. I like how it works; I like how it sounds. It is very powerful and intense. And I think this music deserves to be played and listened to.
DL: This innovativeness and powerful sound of the avant-garde seems to manifest today. Many people were interested in the SplenDoor to Ukraine because it showed something unknown and different, and that is something that resonated with contemporary listeners.
AB: Yes, I was very happy to receive such enthusiastic feedback. Although this music is definitely not easy to listen to, I tried to make it as understandable as possible. I am really happy it resonated with people.
DL: Speaking of making it more accessible, what unique challenges do you encounter when interpreting avant-garde works, such as those by Valentyn Silvestrov, and how do you approach conveying their spirit to audiences?
AB: I think there are different pieces with different approaches. For instance, in Valentyn Sylvesterov’s music, sometimes you have to play super soft or super loud dynamics, which is “not not allowed”, but it does not follow the classical tradition where every note should be rounded, and every note should be noble. But also, it had to never be too soft because everything had to be played with delicacy. In this kind of music, there is so much more contrast between dynamics and rhythms. Sometimes, you have to play on strings; sometimes, there is a lot of pedal, and especially the right pedal that makes the sound even “dirtier”, which is completely a no-go in classical music.
Here, Valentyn Sylvestrov uses all these techniques as tools to express his ideas. It is very important to understand what he meant. This dirtiness is a kind of sonority, a new sonority for them back in the day. In Fractured Surfaces (1963) by Vitalii Hodziatsky, you have to be super strict in rhythm without any romantic smoothness. It is a kind of hardcore music. Sometimes, I feel like it is really something from rock. He told me that it was very important for him in those days, that it was very structured and very aggressive. But now, he is much more sentimental, with little intonations and little phrases in it.
DL: Why do you think that is the case?
AB: I do not know. We also discussed this topic with my friends, especially Ukrainians, especially in Ukraine, and why it is so important for composers to have melodies in their music or at least find some lines. It is like we cannot live without it. Even in some avant-garde stuff, you can still feel the tendency to find the melody and phrases. Is it something rooted in us as a folk tradition, singing, and so on, or is it just some kind of mentality? It is an open question; I cannot say. But definitely, there is something unique in our melodies. We have many great melodists like Borys Liatoshynsky and Valentyn Silvestrov and contemporary composers like Maxim Shalygin. They are all very different, but they have this kind of singing texture in common.
It is really important to show people that we are not only fighting, but we have a great culture that was very often overshadowed by the culture of empires we were occupied by.
DL: You were talking about these different intersections of tradition and innovation and how they come together in the avant-garde. You also play very different styles and mediums. How do you navigate the intersection of these various genres and mediums? Do you find it challenging, or do you find freedom there because you can jump from one piece to another or connect them in your practice?
AB: I find this exciting because it reminds me of a theater. Somehow, you play different roles as each style requires different techniques and even slightly different touches of the piano, using the pedal, using dynamics, using phrasing, using time, bending time, and how much you can bend the time and in which way. It is all very fascinating.
BLITZ QUESTION
What is your favorite non-classical Ukrainian artist or band?
AB: I listen to Aircraft. I like his music very much. I have listened to Ukrainian rock more in previous years, like early Okean Elzy, Braty Gadukiny, Esthetic Education, YaIDMG, and Vopli Vodoplyasova—this kind of music. Today, everything is very diverse, and there is a lot of great stuff. Just recently, we were listening to Pyrih and Batih’s Kolyadnitsky. Very nice.
Just recently, a few years ago, I discovered Kurgan and Agregat, and it is crazy, but with a particular mood, it works well. There is also LATEXFAUNA, which everybody likes. I knew these guys before they started; I played with them for a little bit. It was another group with a different name. It was a different style, and Dmitry [Zezulin] was still searching for his path. I am very happy that he found something very special and succeeded in this post-ironic surf synth, sexy pop.
DL: You already touched briefly on the idea that Ukrainian music and Ukrainian composers themselves were often suppressed by the various regimes and empires throughout history. In your opinion, how does music serve today as a form of cultural resistance?
AB: Resistance is a powerful theme in folk music because of the movement that started with Yevgeniy Yefremov, with the Drevo ensemble, with expeditions to the villages and collecting folk songs. Folk art was also very important in finding your own identity and your authenticity. I think the revival of Ukrainian folk music nowadays is huge. And we all know these songs. We sing these songs again, in new arrangements or in the original. It does not matter. The most important thing is that it is here as we know it. We did not forget it, while russia always wanted us to forget.
russia has always used its heritage as a tool. But we never saw our art as a tool. It was always either oppressed, discriminated against, or banned. But they use their art as a huge, powerful propaganda instrument, spreading their narratives. They use it as a shelter for their bad things. So that is what, unfortunately, we are missing. We still have to show our art to the world. For me, composers like Borys Liatoshynsky should be on the list of composers like Jean Sibelius, just like all the national heroes of these countries, like Krzysztof Penderecki in Poland. We still have to work on it. Then, it will become an instrument of resistance. They [russia] have their art as a weapon and we as a resistance shelter. We also have to have a weapon. Maybe not a weapon. It is very strange to talk in that way about art, art as a weapon.
They [russia] have their art as a weapon and we as a resistance shelter. We also have to have a weapon. Maybe not a weapon. It is very strange to talk in that way about art, art as a weapon.
DL: Speaking of education and knowing about our culture and preserving it through teaching. You are also a guest lecturer at Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague, right?
AB: Oh, right. I forgot. Absolutely. I am a teacher (laughs).
DL: How do you approach educating the next generation of young pianists or musicians in general?
AB: Although I am not a permanent teacher, I appreciate it very much when they bring up Ukrainian music. My approach is straightforward. I try to give them more instructions and inspiration about music and some ideas to reach the point and deal with technical difficulties. Thus, it is on the balance between technical help and trying to make the students’ music more expressive, impressive, and put more life into it.
In my childhood, my teachers always told me that the most important thing was that music should “burn the heart of listeners” when you are on stage, a reference to Ludwig van Beethoven’s quotation. I think it is the most important thing for me to pass this knowledge and help students fire their passion for music.
There are a lot of very talented students in this academy. Some of them are Ukrainians and are really amazing. They are already winning some competitions. There are stunning professors there who teach every day: Anna Fedorova and her parents, Borys Fedorov and Tetiana Abaeva, who are also the founders of the academy and are also from Ukraine.
BLITZ QUESTION
A Ukrainian composer you’d have dinner with if time travel were possible?
AB: I do not know. I do not like to talk so much (laughs).
No, I think it would be great for dinner with Liatoshynsky because I have a good friendship with a woman named Tetiana Homan, who is his successor. She is taking care of his cabinet museum in Kyiv. She is passionate about his heritage, so she dedicated her life to promoting and playing his music and printing and editing his manuscripts. I have been to his cabinet many times, and his room remains exactly as it was back in the day. So, walking from one room to another is like walking on a time machine. I imagine I would meet him in this room, in the same atmosphere, with the same chairs and photographs on the walls, playing for him. It would be really exciting.
DL: If you look back and reflect on your career, how have your interpretations and performance choices evolved or changed over the years?
AB: It was very difficult to put Ukrainian repertoire in the programs. I was always fighting with programmers from the concert halls. If I wanted to play a piece by Valentyn Sylvestrov or by another composer from Ukraine, they always said, “Ah, no,” because it is a lesser-known composer, and they would not sell tickets. They are always afraid of new music.
So, as you can see, it is like a vicious circle. If you do not play this music, the music will never be known. After hearing Ludwig van Beethoven hundreds and hundreds of times, I wondered why people would not want to hear unknown music.
BLITZ QUESTION
A city or venue where performing feels like magic?
AB: I have visited some great halls, like the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wigmore Hall in London. Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv – a huge hall, like two or three thousand people. It was something unique. But I also remember this relatively unknown city, Jaen, in Spain. They had such a nice piano. It was really like a dream to play there. So you see, for us pianists, it is not always about the place but about the instrument. We are dealing with new instruments every time. Sometimes, it can be a tiny city like Olpe in Germany, and there were such nice instruments; everything was so smooth. Oh, wow! That feeling when something did not work before, but now, you play on this particular piano, and everything works – and it was not me; it was the piano!
Of course, in halls like the Berliner Philharmoniker, you can feel the spirit of the many great musicians who played there. I remember playing in Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and it was also very exciting—these legendary stage doors open for you, and then you go down those stairs—it is something special.
DL: Lastly, how would you describe Ukrianian music in three words to the world?
AB: For me, it is always emotional, powerful, melodic. It is always on the edge; sometimes, it is on the edge of emotions.
Looking Ahead
In the interview, Antonii Baryshevskyi shared an exciting lineup of projects and collaborations for the upcoming year. He will continue his work with Nomadische Boekenplank and the SplenDoor to Ukraine initiative, which remains a significant focus. In 2025, the 130th anniversary of Ukrainian composer Borys Liatoshynsky will be commemorated with performances, including a rendition of the Slavic Concerto (1953) in Poland with young Ukrainian conductor Yaroslav Shemet. Antonii will also collaborate with Viktoria Vitrenko in Germany, showcasing works by composers like Luciano Berio, Kurt Weill, and Svyatoslav Lunyov.
Additionally, Antonii is looking forward to further collaborations with Orest Smovzh, although the details are still to be confirmed. One of the most anticipated projects is the upcoming release of a double CD of Maxim Shalygin’s music, a culmination of years of friendship, set for digital release in the spring.
The SplenDoor to Ukraine initiative also kicked off its second season on January 29, 2025, celebrating Borys Lyatoshynsky’s anniversary. On March 23, 2025, the next event will feature an electro-acoustic performance of the “Babylon” written by Ukrainian contemporary composer Alexey Shmurak. Antonii Baryshevskyi will perform piano, synth, and voice while Ihor Sukhorukov will give a lecture about Ukrainian visual art. This exciting event is not be missed, and tickets are available here for those interested. Stay tuned for the upcoming events by following Antonii and agenda of the upcoming season.
This interview was conducted on December 28, 2024, and edited for clarity.