Ukraine musician at West Cork Chamber Music Fest: 'Then came this urge to do something'
Anna Fedorova, Ukrainian musician playing at West Cork Chamber Music Festival.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine abruptly destroyed normal life in her home country, Anna Fedorova threw her mighty energy into doing her bit for the nation through music. Taking to the road with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, the 32-year-old piano virtuoso will make her first appearance in Ireland when she comes to Bantry the West Cork Chamber Music Festival.
The past three months have been a period of intense emotion and activity for Fedorova and her family. Her parents, both piano professors, fled Kyiv just before the bombing started and joined Anna and her husband Nicholas Schwartz at their home in the Netherlands.
The family have been busy teaching performing and supporting musicians fleeing the war. “For the first few days we were paralysed looking at the news and worrying,” says Fedorova. “Then came this urge to do something and not just sit and be terrified but to try and help in some way.”
Within a week, the Amsterdam based star put together a benefit concert at the prestigious Concertgebouw, an event that sold out in hours. “It helped that we were incredibly busy organising the concert. When we had the first rehearsal, there was such a powerful mix of emotions. I felt like myself again and this transcendent moment came through the music and helped me to get through this time.”
A native of Ukraine, Fedorova has Russian heritage. Her parents met as piano students at Moscow Conservatoire before moving to settle in Ukraine in their twenties. She is emphatic that performers with no affiliations to Russian government should not face sanctions by concert promoters and competition juries.
For instance, the Dublin Piano Competition has faced criticism for disinviting nine Russian pianists. “I think Russian musicians who have nothing to do with the government should not be cancelled. It can be very dangerous for them to speak out.”
For West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Fedorova will play four ballades by Chopin, a composer close to her heart since childhood when she studied his pieces with her parents, her first teachers in Kyiv.
The fate of Chopin who fled a Warsaw turned to rubble following Soviet invasion, has a resonance in contemporary events. “At this moment the story of Chopin is similar to that of many Ukrainians. Because of invasion, he lived half of his life in France and could never return to his homeland. You can hear in his music, that he is missing his homeland in the Polish motifs and dances.”
Also on her programme are two contemporary works that will be heard for the first time in Ireland. She joins close friend and violist Dana Zemtsov to play a sonata by Dutch composer Henk Badings, a piece that they recorded on the album Dutch Hidden Gems. She will also play a piece by a living Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov who himself has fled to Berlin.
“The Messenger is a very special piece which Silvestrov wrote after the death of his wife. In his despair and grief, he heard this simple pure melody in his head. It kept sounding in his head as if it was sent to him as a message from the spirit of his late wife. He wrote it down and this piece was born. It is very beautiful, full of life and hope. It is a very spiritual piece and that is something we all need now -music not from earth but from heaven.”
Anna Fedorova performs at various events at West Cork Chamber Music Festival, June 28 to July 3, westcorkmusic.ie Anna Fedorova performs Chopin Concerto No 2 at NCH, Dublin, August 15 Anna Fedorova and Dana Zemstov feature on Dutch Hidden Gems, out now on Channel Classics
- Four top international String Quartets perform – Pavel Haas Quartet (Prague), Danel Quartet (Belgium), Signum Quartet (Germany), and Doric Quartet (London) – and a series of major cycles from Biber and Bach to Weinberg via Haydn, late Schubert and Bartók.
- Stars of the Future include Cork violinist Mairéad Hickey, pianist Nathalia Milstein, cellist Ella van Poucke, and violinist Diamanda Dramm.
- Fiddle player Martin Hayes returns for a special late-night performance.
- Exhibition and talks featuring makers of fine contemporary violin and bows from some of the leading makers working in the field today.
