Pianist Darius Mažintas Performed on Mount Kremianets in Izium

On Dec. 13, the Lithuanian pianist Darius Mažintas played in liberated Izium in Kharkiv Oblast. The musician performed compositions from the “Naive Music” series by the Ukrainian composer Valentyn Sylvestrov.

This was reported by Suspilne Kharkiv.

“With the beginning of the war, I became more interested in Ukrainian culture, that’s how I discovered Sylvestrov. All of Ukraine, its nature and people are in his music,” Mažintas said.

“Music cannot level destruction, but it heals wounds,” added the pianist.

The musician arrived in the liberated Izium on the eve of the performance.

“With this event, we are drawing attention to the cultural losses suffered by the world’s cultural heritage as a result of Russian aggression in Ukraine. We are demonstrating how destructive the war is being waged against the Ukrainian people and our culture,” Yaryna Yasynevych, the co-organizer of the event, said.

Serhii Shtanko, the Izium resident, who had not left his hometown during the Russian occupation, helped to organize the performance.

Earlier, the Russian occupiers destroyed the sculptures of the sacred art of the IX-XIII centuries, the Polovtsian stone women on mount Kremianets near Izium. Only two of the nine Polovtsian women were not damaged during the Russian occupation. One of the sculptures was completely ruined by the explosion.