Valentin Silvestrov

Valentin Silvestrov is probably Ukraine's pre-eminent living composer, and one of the most distinguished living symphonists in a tradition defined by – and later reacting against – 20th-century Soviet artistic policy. Silvestrov was born in Kyiv and trained as a civil engineer while taking composition lessons from the great Ukrainian symphonist Boris Lyatoshinsky (1895–1968). Early works such as his Symphony No.3 "Eschatophony" combined a fascination with western avant-garde techniques with a sense of spirituality: a combination that led to conflict with Soviet officialdom and, from the 1970s, an inner exile. Scores such as Silent Songs (1974–77) and Postludium (1984) typified this new, more meditative and less overtly subversive compositional style. Championed in the West by performers including Gidon Kremer, Silvestrov started to speak more openly in the years after the fall of Communism. More recent champions include Daniel Hope and Hélène Grimaud. He has now completed nine symphonies (ranging in date from 1963 to 2019) and has commented musically on political developments in his native Ukraine. His choral Prayer for Ukraine – written in response to the 2014 revolution in Kyiv – has been widely performed since the Russian invasion of 2022, an event which forced the composer into unwilling exile in Germany.