Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Nov 22

Two pieces on the orchestra’s November program are by Ukrainian composers; the others are by a Russian, Dmitri Shostakovich, and a Finn, Jean Sibelius. Valentin Silvestrov’s Prayer for Ukraine was written for an unaccompanied choir in 2014, during the protests in Kyiv’s Independence Square. Born in Kyiv in 1937, Silvestrov fled to Berlin earlier this year.

Performing an instrumental arrangement of the Prayer for Ukraine, the ECSO joins the many ensembles expressing solidarity with the besieged nation. Melody for Strings is by the late Myroslav Skoryk, born in 1938 in Lviv (at the time, part of Poland), who taught at the conservatories of Lviv and Kyiv and was named People’s Artist of Ukraine and Hero of Ukraine.

The ECSO’s performance of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, will feature guest soloist Igor Pikayzen, a graduate of Juilliard and Yale and the grandson of legendary violinist Viktor Pikayzen.

Following intermission, Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada will lead the orchestra in Sibelius’s single-movement Symphony No. 7, an evocative work completed in 1924.

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To learn more information, including a detail seating plan and programs,
please visit: ectsymphony.com or contact us at 860.443.2876