Festivals for Compassion
We are all horrified by the baseless Russian military invasion in Ukraine and the suffering it is imposing on Ukrainians and all who hold them dear. Can music bring peace? At the very least, it can send a signal to all of us, our artists, our audience and above all to our Ukrainian colleagues and their loved ones.
Maxim Shalygin
The Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin (1985) is typical representative of the modern school, synthesising various educational methods and approaches. At age sixteen Shalygin began his composition studies with Irina Ivashenko, after which he spent a year studying with the renowned Russian composer Boris Tishchenko at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 2010 he graduated from the Kiev Conservatoire in the class of professor Shcherbakov, and in 2011 he received a second Master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Cornelis de Bondt and Diderik Wagenaar. During his studies and in the years that followed, the famous Ukrainian composer Svyatoslav Lunyov has always been a great source of inspiration for Shalygin.
Shalygin writes chamber music, vocal works, symphonic pieces, electro-acoustic music, but also music for theatre, dance and film. His work contains a high degree of spirituality, but without being religious. His compositions are characterised by an often spherical sound, sometimes hypnotic or even downright confusing and always with a profound intensity.