Ukrainian Resonance: “Siimurg,” a Flute and Visual Art Performance

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This series is organized by the with the and .

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This concert presents a multidisciplinary project initiated during the Cité des Arts residency in Paris by flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén and visual artist Aino Koski in 2017. 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 art.

Program

Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Syrinx for flute solo

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–Variations–Monolog

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 and interrelationship between music and visual art have been areas of active exploration for centuries. These two art forms have been deeply intertwined, often through meaningful friendships and collaborations among musicians, visual artists, and writers, who have inspired one another across 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.

Aino Koski and Iryna Gorkun-Silén have performed numerous concerts together in Finland. As part of her doctoral studies, Iryna commissioned the work Siimurg from composer Elisar Riddelin. Their collaborative exploration of music and live visual art has opened new avenues for examining the interactions between these mediums. The piece being premiered tonight is the culmination of their ongoing 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 art.

Elisar Riddelin describes Siimurg as a piece that does not attempt to explain or resolve the themes of loss and grief presented in the included poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo. 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 has graduated from The University of Art and design Helsinki in 2012. She has also studied in Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, and participated in workshops e.g. in Paris, Istanbul and Copenhagen. 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 USA, and South Korea. Iryna holds two master's degrees: 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 about to complete her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy, DocMus. Iryna has actively participated in numerous masterclasses with prominent flutists and conductors. Iryna has won prizes at international flute competitions in France, Ukraine, Italy, and Switzerland. Since 2023, Iryna has been working as a cultural producer for the Ukrainian Association in Finland. 

Sebastian Silén is a Finnish violinist and artistic researcher. He is a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where he explores Jean Sibelius’s works for violin and piano from a Nordic perspective. Silén also performs actively as soloist, chamber- and orchestral musician and his debut CD which contains 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.

Organizers

The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative that aims to explore and popularize unknown or rarely performed repertoire and to support endangered talents. Its core principles are social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership. The project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a scholar in musicology, opera critic, and classical music curator, former executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Harriman Resident of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination from Columbia University during the season 2022-2023. The project’s main focus is the Ukrainian musical repertoire from classicism to the present day.

The Columbia Global Paris Center addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science.

Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia.

The Paris Center and Institute are part of Columbia Global, which brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Undergraduate Global Engagement.

Venue

Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Undergraduate Programs, the  M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement with the world through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates.

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