Contemporary Interpretations of Lysenko — From Original Manuscripts to Wartime Requiem

The upcoming exhibition shows how the legacy of Mykola Lysenko lives in contemporary 21st-century Ukrainian musical culture. The centrepiece is productions of Taras Bulba at the National Opera of Ukraine and the Lviv National Opera, where directors and conductors rethink Lysenko's epic score in the light of contemporary events. Alongside are chamber arrangements of Lysenko's early song settings for string quartets, ethno-folk-fusion projects by young Ukrainian musicians who return the composer from the academic pedestal to the living repertoire. A special place in the exposition is held by the Prayer for Ukraine of 1885, which since 2022 has acquired a new meaning as a concert requiem composition during the war. Choral performances of the Prayer on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, in the cathedrals of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, in evacuation concerts in Europe became an act of spiritual resistance to the invaders. The exhibition also shows the digital restoration of Lysenko's original manuscripts from the museum's holdings and contemporary recordings of Lysenko's works in vinyl format (cross-reference with the Museum of Ukrainian Sound Recording). The exposition emphasises: Lysenko is not an 'archival' classic but a living composer of the contemporary Ukrainian national tradition, whose music sounds where the people defend their right to exist.