Theodore Akimenko & Claude Debussy

The opening concert of the Sounds of Ukraine festival is dedicated to Akimenko Theodore (1876–1945) and Claude Debussy (1862–1918). This year marks an anniversary of Akimenko Theodore, a composer who played a notable role in European musical life during his lifetime but remained absent from Ukraine’s cultural memory for many decades.

The main reason for this was forced emigration and political circumstances: during the Soviet period, composers living abroad were excluded from the cultural sphere, their names suppressed and their music no longer performed.

Akimenko Theodore was born in the Kharkiv region and received his musical education at the Court Chapel and the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a highly educated composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher, performing and teaching in various European countries. His life took him through Tiflis, Nice, Prague, and finally Paris. He returned to Ukraine only once, in 1924.

In exile, Akimenko Theodore became increasingly aware of his Ukrainian identity. In Prague, within a circle of Ukrainian intellectuals and artists, he turned actively to Ukrainian themes and composed a number of works that are featured in this concert.

His musical language is distinctly European, combining elements of German Romanticism and French Impressionism with refined colour and elegant form. France became his final home, where he lived in Paris for 17 years. For this reason, his music is presented alongside that of Claude Debussy in this programme.

A special focus of the concert is the tradition of four-hand piano music. Debussy’s Petite Suite is one of the most important examples of this genre in French music, while Akimenko Theodore’s Six Ukrainian Pieces for piano four hands belong to the earliest examples of the genre in Ukrainian art music.

Akimenko’s solo piano works reveal a deeply intimate and poetic inner world. The mazurka “Souvenir”, op. 26, is a lyrical gesture of memory, where dance is transformed into an inward image. The Fantaisie, op. 26bis, unfolds a free and impulsive musical thought, rich in contrasts and imbued with a sense of improvisation.

A central highlight of the programme is the cycle “Caprices of Harmonies” – 21 miniature preludes for solo piano, op. 62bis (1914). This is a harmonic universe in miniature: each piece resembles a brief breath, a fleeting reflection of mood. The cycle stands among the early examples of a modern prelude form in Ukrainian music, in which harmony becomes the primary bearer of expression. Akimenko experiments boldly with colour, texture, and rhythm, creating music of remarkable subtlety and originality.

“Caprices of Harmonies” are performed in Germany for the first time, and the cycle as a whole is almost never heard in concert. Its rarity is due not to complexity, but to long-standing neglect — making its return to the stage a significant artistic event.

The programme is completed by three pieces based on Ukrainian themes, where national elements appear not as direct quotations, but as an inner voice — restrained, noble, and deeply personal. This reflects the core idea of the Sounds of Ukraine festival: to revive forgotten music and bring back to the stage works that have long remained unheard, yet undeniably deserve a place in today’s concert life.