Shemet biography

Interview with conductor Yaroslav Shemet about music. Yaroslav SHEMET. Photo: I. Kovisha, the name of Yaroslav Shemeta is familiar to many lovers of classical and modern music in Ukraine, in Poland, in Europe and far beyond its borders as one of the best Ukrainian and Polish conductors of the young generation, musical director of the Silesian Philharmonic in the Catovitsa, teacher of the music academy named after Ignatius Jan Paderevsky in Poznan.

In the years, Yaroslav Shemet acted as a conductor and assistant of the huddhograte director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.

The artist toured in many countries with the Hamburg Philharmonic orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Prague, the Poznan, Sudeten, Opolski Philharmonic, with the Lviv National Philharmonic Opera. This is how, in the performance of this team, under the control of Yaroslav Shemet, a fragment of the overture of Johann-Straus-Sin to the operetta “Bat” sounds:- The musical fragment-- Yaroslav Shemet was born in the year, in Kharkov.

But what paths brought him to Poland - the maestro himself will tell, with whom we met in Warsaw, during a break of rehearsal with the Sinfonia iuventus orchestra: Yaroslav Shemet: my road to Poland was simple. Because first I came here to get an education from the professor whom I was looking for, not only in Poland, and found this in Poznan. And when I graduated from school in Kharkov, I directly came to him at the Musical Academy in Poznan.

Agree, rarely, at such a young age, manages to lead and conduct prestigious orchestras in the best concert halls of the world. However, in the case of Yaroslav Shemet, such a pace of career turned out to be quite logical. After all, in early childhood, he felt that music is his life: Yaroslav SHEMET: it was so long ago that I don’t even remember that. According to my mother, I know that I was interested in music literally from birth.

And I, as a three -year -old child, had such a whim: “Mom, I want to go to music school! Please give me to a music school! And my mother, instead of,, as they say, to divide it by two, and say “you will go later”, she just took me to listen, to the zero class of a music school in Merefuf. I was accepted, and somewhere there my musical path has already begun. I was then three with the plane of the year, and, of course, I don’t remember this anymore, but I am a musician all my conscious life, and I go this way.

Therefore, for me it has always been a clear and understandable thing. At our place there was a piano, there was still a guitar, and it seems that my grandfather’s brother had an accordion. That is, I could, so to speak, touch musical instruments, which, I think, brought me to the orchestra. The main thing is that I always had enough of one tool, I always wanted more, I wanted drums, clarinet, composer skill, Alta, violin and so on.

This is an orchestra with a great tradition, a rich history. First of all, I was very pleased when I was offered this position. I have already been working with them for a year, we made friends, and everything is not enough for us. That is, I think that I will extend the contract with them, we will play together for years, because it is a very good ensemble. We must love everyone, because without love it will not be possible to play the work, to realize the design of the composer.

Therefore, I love everyone, and as for who is more and who is smaller, I will say this: my favorite composer is the one on whose music I am now working. At the moment, these are Karlovich, Dvogzhak and Sylvesters. It was not only a gesture towards Ukraine, but also the opportunity to introduce the Polish audience closer to the work of a wonderful composer: Yaroslav SHEMET: I think this is now our chief representative of the Ukrainian composer school in the world.

I will say a few words about the work that I played with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, and which we, together with the Sinfonia iuventus orchestra, will play in the National Philharmonic at the Beethoven festival. This is a “prayer for Ukraine”, the work that the composer wrote in the choral version after the Maidan, that is, the work was born in the year, and its name speaks for itself.

We perform this work in the version for the chamber orchestra. It is worth listening to this work, you should get acquainted with the work of Sylvestrov. And in general, now Ukrainian music is very unfortunate that at such a price, but it is experiencing her Renaissance. Everyone began to perform Ukrainian composers. After this concert, my mail was covered with questions: where can I get the notes?

The audience was in admiration. Our general director exclaimed: “God! Lyatoshinsky music is better than Maler's music! The reaction was common: why did we not know this before? And the answer is simple: because it was blocked by Russia all the time, under the influence of our brother’s quotes. Polish music, Polish musicians are not silent in the situation of the tragedy of Ukraine.

The conductor from Ukraine highly appreciates the civil position of the Polish colleagues and the attitude to his homeland: Yaroslav Shemet: first of all, what we were told from childhood, as if culture outside politics, turned out to be not true.She was connected with politics throughout her history, and the whole situation now shows how closely, and what influence the music on the pressure that we can have.

The musicians in all cultural institutions said that they would not perform Russian music, cooperate with Russian soloists. And no one even asked: why? Yes, because everyone knows how it was during the Second World War, everyone understands why Wagner and Strauss could not play in Warsaw in Warsaw. In addition to empathy, the solidarity that Poland shows in relation to Ukraine, people of culture provide pressure on politicians, for non -governmental organizations, demanding tightening sanctions against Russia.

But the most important thing - and I no longer think how many concerts I have already played during the war - at each concert we collect money to help Ukraine. And we, as representatives of the Ukrainian culture here, should do this three times more than now.