“Macht Musik” (a word play that can mean both “make music” and “power music”) is an innovative and intercultural festival that invites diverse encounters between music, politics, science, and literature. For four days, the Stadtcasino Basel's rooms will become a hotspot for concerts featuring internationally sought-after artists who will engage in dialogue on current political and historically explosive issues from history and the present.
The power of music plays a crucial role in dictatorships. As the language of passion, it directly influences our emotions. Music can touch our subconscious and overwhelm us without self-reflection. The powerful, both historically and today, have always made use of this power. Composers, on the other hand, have always been caught between conformity and oppression. "Macht Musik" therefore aims to focus on the artists who, through their works, raise their voices against the dictatorship. The power of music can also become a power against state violence.
This concert with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra presents pieces by three Ukrainian composers whose works tell of political distress and the will to survive culturally. Vasyl Barvinsky was a central figure in Ukrainian modern music. As the founder of the Lviv Music School and a promoter of young talent, he profoundly shaped his country's musical landscape. In 1948, he was arrested by the Soviet secret police. He spent 10 years in the Gulag in Mordovia. During this time, numerous of his works—both printed and handwritten—were burned and thus destroyed in Lviv. "Ukrainian Rhapsody," one of the few surviving works, resonates all the more vividly today, reflecting the beauty and strength of an oppressed culture.
Maxim Shalygin, born in 1985, represents the new generation. In his Triple Concerto in D-flat major, emotional intensity, formal radicalness, and technical brilliance merge into a sound that both reflects the past and points forward. Shalygin's music features extensions of traditional playing techniques while maintaining a tonal language and avoiding avant-garde radicalism.
Yevhen Stankovych, whose Symphony No. 2, "Heroic," concludes the evening, was subjected to censorship even during the Soviet era. His music is permeated by dark soundscapes, violence, and inner turmoil. These characteristics reflect both personal and collective experiences. This program is a tribute to the indomitable nature of Ukrainian culture.
Tickets are CHF 45-90 for adults and half price for youths and students.The Philharmonie der Soloisten Orchestra was founded in Hamburg in the fall of 2018. The orchestra's name stands out among the numerous chamber orchestras: all musicians are professional musicians with international concert experience, and all of them perform as soloists in the regular chamber orchestra lineup. On the other hand, the word "Philharmonie" embodies the core idea: quite simply, the love of harmony!
On this evening in the Hans Huber Saal, the Philharmonic of Soloists will be playing Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” as well as works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are CHF 48.75-105.60 for adults and CHF 37.25-83.20 for students.

Website
stadtcasino-basel.ch/de/programm/veranstaltungen/261025_philharmonie_d_solisten/

Where
Stadtcasino Basel
Konzertgasse 1
4051 Basel

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