After debuts in Europe and abroad, Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv is now one of the best-known female maestros in the world. In 2021, after 145 years of Bayreuth Festival history, she was the first female conductor in the Festspielhaus with her debut production of The Flying Dutchman as the opening of the festival. In 2022, Oksana Lyniv became chief conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. From 2017-2020 she was chief conductor of the Graz Opera and the Graz Philharmonic (Austria). Since the beginning of the escalation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv has become a symbol of a fighter in the international music world against the war that broke out in her country. The Opening Concert of the 2022 anniversary season of the Ludwigsburg Festival 2022 is an explicit concert for peace. Together with the Israeli pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï, Oksana Lyniv takes the stage, leading an emotional programme offering the audience a world of consolation and hope while acknowledging the darker side of our existence, its pain and suffering. PROGRAM Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, K.488; Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Filippo Gorini plays The Art of Fugue
There is no doubt that Filippo Gorini is one of the great thinkers of our time, and his performance of Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue) is not just a release: it is
a whole project. Bach’s unfinished masterpiece (BWV 1080) is of unspecified instrumentation, and there are many different attempts to realise it. It dates from Bach’s last decade, and comprises 14 Fugues and four Canons; the final Fugue, incomplete, is left hanging in the air, unforgettably. Gorini has spoken about letting that ending surprise him every time, even in the recording studio. Such a compositional exploration was unparalleled at the time. Bach’s writing in this piec is the absolute distillation of his contrapuntal thinking. Not a single note is wasted; the piece requires supreme concentration from its performer. Gorini is fascinated by the dialogue between the voices in contrapuntal music, a fascination that shines through every note. The performance is peaceful, and extremely profound; what Gorini himself refers to as a “timeless beauty”.