Press

At the end of Wratislavia Cantans 57 (18.09.22) we heard the oratorio „Vyriy” (Paradise) by Oleksandr Shymko. The work was based on liturgical and folk texts, and I believe that it had many features of a funeral mass, as it contained some liturgical links of the mass intertwined with folk songs expressing a certain fatalism and a slightly different, more skeptical perception of the world and human fate. The work was performed by a powerful army of performers – the great choir was composed of the National Choir of Ukraine “Dumka” and the NFM Choir, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra was responsible for the instrumental layer, in addition, BOZHYCHI, a Ukrainian folk music ensemble, soprano Tetiana Zhuravel and a lyre player (hurdy-gurdy) Andriy Lyashuk. (…) Roman Rewakowicz led this great orchestral-choral-folk performing apparatus with a steady hand, focusing on colors, dynamics and skilfully rendering the specific expression of the composer, whose music does not scream, is not ostentatious, but rather metaphysical, emerging from the continuum of silence and into falling.

Jacek Tabisz
Requiem for the Heroes of Ukraine
19.09.2022

The second part of the concert featured a powerful symphony-requiem “Righteous soul” by Bohdana Frolyak to the poetry of Taras Shevchenko. (…) The work, which lasted almost an hour, kept the listeners in suspense all the time, thanks to the excellent performers – soloists: Tamara Kalinkina (soprano), Natalka Połowynka (mezzo-soprano) and Hubert Zapiór (baritone), whose strong voices perfectly matched the a huge cast of the work, as well as the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, masterfully led by Roman Rewakowicz. The concert ended with a standing ovation.

Paweł Markuszewski
8th Days of Ukrainian Music in Warsaw
“Nashe Slovo”, no. 44, 2.10.2022

Frolyak’s oratorio is a lament full of tenderness and love for the homeland, written on a broad breath, in an accessible language, but not vulgar. The choir and orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic under the baton of Roman Rewakowicz sounded splendidly, and he led the entire concert with calm confidence.

Dorota Szwarcman
New Ukrainian Romanticism
9.09.2022

Tirelessly nurturing Ukrainian-Polish and Polish Ukrainian music contacts, conductor, composer and music theorist Roman Rewakowicz has been presenting regular performances of contemporary Ukrainian music to the Warsaw public for the last twenty years. The fifth iteration of „The Days of Ukrainian Music,” which took place between October 18-23, 2019, (…)

Paweł Markuszewski
Fifth Days of Ukrainian Music in Warsaw
“Nashe Slovo”, no. 45, November 2019

On my personal scale of things, I give the festival a top mark, recognizing the instrumental role of Roman Rewakowicz as a highly cultured and musically well-educated initiator and chief executive. I claim this due to the festival’s right content and context, and practical decisions to provide aesthetic pleasures in a relatively short period of time in order to present a remarkably full picture of contemporary trends in Ukrainian music, from Stankovych and Silvestrov, Shcherbakov and Shumeiko, Kywa and Frolak, to composers of younger generations. Three concerts presenting the music of Ukrainian composers of various generations were masterly juxtaposed with the music of Lutosławski, showcasing his works from various periods, the fact already underscored by the festival’s subtitle: „Witold Lutosławski and Ukrainian Music.” This is the first time in the festival’s history that Ukrainian music was placed in such meaningful context while, through the use of parallels, associations and patterns, the listener was able to perceive the music from a wider perspective, allowing is to capture its self-sufficient and significant stature.

Olha Stelmaszewska
Artistic Ambassador – “Den” (Newspaper)
November 6, 2019

Latin choirs of Krzysztof Penderecki’s “Credo” mesmerised the audience of the 29th Kyiv Music Fest and left a very meaningful Polish mark in the history of the oldest Ukrainian classical music festival organised in the year 2018 when Poland celebrates its independence centenary.

“This grand opening hosts the eminent Polish musical master – professor Krzysztof Penderecki who himself conducted his monumental masterpiece ‘Credo’,” Polish conductor Roman Rewakowicz and the head of Pro Musica Viva foundation that promotes Polish music in Ukraine and vice versa told the Polish Press Agency. (…)

Famous Polish composer marks Polish centenary in Kiev
08.11.2019

What captured our attention is Rewakowicz’s very emotional conducting manner.

Ekaterina Sharonova
“Belgorod News” (Newspaper)
November 13, 2013

The Sergei Prokofiev Symphony Orchestra was totally subjected to the artistic will of conductor Roman Rewakowicz. It subtly accompanied astute and strong soloists and sounded as one compact organism, unified by artistic expression. Rewakowicz’s secret that amazed the audience with his mastery and precision, is straightforward – he simply adores Lutosławski’s music, which he knows so well, and as a result, creates the right kind of energy that captivates both musicians and listeners.

Tamara Nevinchana
Donetskyi kulturnyi skok – ”Muzyka”
April 2013