National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
: Ukraine Makes a Stop in Reims

Learn about the orchestra's history

Volodymyr Sirenko, born in 1960 in the Poltava region.
He made his debut at the Kyiv State Philharmonic in 1983, conducting works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Boulez. In 1989, he graduated from the Kyiv State Conservatory, where he studied under Professor Allin Vlasenko. In 1990, he was a finalist in the Prague International Conducting Competition. A year later, he was appointed conductor and artistic director of the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1999. During this period, he made over 200 recordings for Ukrainian Radio, including Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 38 and 41, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Dvořák’s Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9, Brahms’s “German Requiem,” Richard Strauss’s “Macbeth,” Janáček’s “Taras Bulba,” and many others.

Since 1999, he has been the conductor of the National Honorary Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Among the hundreds of programs he has conducted with the orchestra, the most significant have been the symphonic cycles of G. Mahler and B. Liatoshynsky, the Passions according to Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John, as well as J. S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, A. Honegger’s oratorio “Joan of Arc at the Stake,” G. Berlioz’s dramatic legend “The Damnation of Faust,” and C. Debussy’s “The Passion of Saint Sebastian.”

He has recorded more than 50 CDs, and Valentin Silvestrov’s album *Requiem for Larissa* was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005. He has conducted the world premieres of numerous works by Ukrainian composers: Symphony No. 6, the oratorios “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” and “The Passion of Taras” by Yevhen Stankovych, and Symphonies Nos. 7, 8, and 9 by Valentin Silvestrov.

From 2011 to 2014, he served as the artistic director of the “Kyiv Soloists” National Chamber Music Ensemble.

He has composed music for films by Ukrainian and foreign composers (about 40 feature films, documentaries, and animated films).

He has staged Carmela Tsepkolenko’s chamber opera *Dorian’s Lament*, Vitaliy Gubarenko’s opera-oratorio *Remember, my brothers," the operas "When the Fern Blooms" and "The Terrible Revenge" by Evgeny Stankovych, Verdi’s "Rigoletto," Puccini’s "Sister Angelica," “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Gluck, and the opera-oratorio “Oedipus Rex” by Igor Stravinsky.

He has toured in Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Canada, Korea, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Germany, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, the United States, Turkey, France, the Czech Republic, and Japan. He has collaborated with numerous prestigious orchestras: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and others.

V. Sirenko has conducted at numerous renowned concert halls, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Barbican Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, the Seoul Arts Center, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and the Berlin Philharmonic, among others.

Volodymyr Sirenko is a People’s Artist of Ukraine (2008), a recipient of Ukraine’s Taras Shevchenko National Prize (2001), and a corresponding member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class.

Source: nsou.com.ua

Accessible to wheelchair users

Basilica of Saint Remi – Rue Saint-Julien, 51100 Reims

Doors open at 7pm