One of the most recognisable Ukrainian composers today is undoubtedly Valentin Silvestrov. On St Andrew’s Eve, we will hear his new work, co-commissioned by the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra. Silvestrov’s works are renowned for drawing listeners to the treasure troves of the past and the arsenals of memory. We will visit these places, listening to compositions by such masters as Bach, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. The entire performance will be directed by the distinguished Dmitry Sitkovetsky.

The commission, Moments of Memory VI, was created through the collaboration of several institutions, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, with which the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra collaborated last season. This is the sixth work in a series whose aim, as with all of this artist’s work, seems to be to bring to life music rarely heard today. Among the crumbs of things heard a long time ago were waltzes, mazurkas, and serenades. We don’t yet know where Silvestrov will take us this time, but distant times and memories will certainly come alive again thanks to music imbued with a sense of loss and emptiness.

Other elements of the programme will also serve as vehicles for remembrance. Arrangements of Felix Mendelssohn’s famous Lieder ohne Worte, authored by Dmitry Sitkovetsky, will transport us to a world of Romantic sentiment. Born in Baku and educated in Moscow and the United States, this  master of playing/directing will lead the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra. Sitkovetsky also arranged Johannes Brahms’s String Sextet No. 2. Although this work dates back to the formative period of the composer of A German Requiem, it is already marked by haunting maturity. The furthest thing we can take you back in time is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor – one of only two known works of this genre written by the Köthen Kapellmeister.