Three newly commissioned 20-minute works by Ukrainian composers Anna Arkushyna, Ihor Zavhorodnii, and Albert Saprykin will be performed by New York-based clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich, live on stage in New York, together with double-bassist Nazarii Stets, playing over 4,500 miles away in Kyiv. Poems and testimonies are paired with the music. The DOWN TO EARTH Festival invited Leah Batstone and her Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival to present this collaboration with Kyiv Contemporary Music Days in partnership with The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center.
About the Artists:
Kyiv Contemporary Music Days (KCMD) is an NGO that functions as an educational and concert platform for new music. Founded in 2015, KCMD has organized more than 160 events in Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Germany, and Lithuania to date with musicians from over 25 countries. Despite our projects' vast geography and scale, KCMD has essentially remained a grassroots initiative true to the spirit of solidarity, horizontality, and mutual help born out of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine.
KCMD produces festivals, concerts of chamber, orchestra, and electroacoustic music, live streams, masterclasses for composers and performers, and lectures for professional musicians and a wider audience. Since February 24, 2022, we also try to preserve the Ukrainian music community and make sure Ukrainian voices are heard internationally.
https://en.kcmd.eu/home
Gleb Kanasevich is a clarinetist and composer based between Detroit and the East Coast. As of July, 2022, he is a permanent member of Detroit-based Hub New Music, with whom he tours regularly and performed at many of the country’s most renowned concert series, venues and festivals. He is an active soloist and session musician, having recently worked with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, Cleveland-based death metal band Noxis, and on soundtracks for Netflix and A24 films. He has been closely working with the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival in New York City since 2021, frequently covering the festival’s electronic and live sound needs, concert production, and clarinet duties.
www.glebkanasevich.com