The Lviv Philharmonic and the Legacy of Thomas de Hartmann

Film screening and discussion

Thursday, September 14, 7:30 p.m.

Join for a pair of film premieres and a panel discussion exploring the role of art in estabishing and maintaining naional identity.

Reclamation: The Legacy of Thomas de Hartmann is an original short documentary fillm that centers on the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine's February 10, 2023 performance ot composer Thomas de Hartmann's Violin Concerto in the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall. The concert marked the first ever performance of the concerto in the Americas and the first live performance of the piece anywhere in the world in nearly 70 years.

Through interviews with faculty experts from UMass, the conductor and concert master of the Lviv Philharmonic, the musical director of the Thomas de Hartmann Project, and the Fine Arts Center's performing arts curator, Reclamation examines multiple layers of meaning in the historic concert. From the ongoing effort to restore "lost" Ukrainian born composer de Hartmann's work to the western canon, to the competing efforts of Ukraine and Russia to claim de Hartmann as a countryman, to the parallels between the Nazi occupation of Ukraine during World War II — to which de Hartmann's concerto is a response — and the current Russian invasion, the film provides a look into art and its influence.

The documentary will be screened along with a companion film presenting the Lviv Philharmonic's performance of the de Hartmann concerto at UMass.

The evening also will feature a panel discussion on topics explored in Reclamation. Panelists, most of whom are also featured in the film, include:

 
Thank you to our season sponsors:

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