Lubomyr Melnyk: Windmills
£13.18 - £27.93
The Balliol College Music Society (BCMS) brings you another recital from the world-class Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk as he returns to Oxford for the third time. Filling the Barbican in 2023, and selling out venues in the Colleges Balliol, Magdalen, Wadham and New in November 2025 and February 2026, Lubomyr looks forward to giving the Oxford debut of 'Windmills' this 2nd of June in the intimate setting of Exeter College's Chapel.
'Windmills' is his greatest piece in many senses, often described as a physical impossibility: it is a longer opera, following a dramatic and primal narrative of natural destruction, love and resilience. As we are set to surround him within the chapel in a very unusual way, this concert will prove to be very special and will be quite a different experience even for longtime fans of Lubomyr.
Last November and February, the BCMS was so moved by the fantastically warm reception and to see just how touched many of our attendees were by Lubomyr's music, with academics and members of the public alike in tears. We have been glad to work with professional documentary makers and with Creative Empirical, a team led by researchers at Goldsmiths and Cambridge, who are investigating the pyschological effects of Lubomyr's practise both on himself and on his audiences, where the complexity and power of the music have been known to induce visual hallucinations and out of body experiences and where Lubomyr's own flow state baffles.
A unique pianist, Lubomyr creates music which is immersive and transporting. As he channels phenomenal energy in unbroken yet dynamic pieces, the typical audience is thunderstruck by his stamina and is swept up in the glistening polyphony, as dominating bell-like melodies interchange with a mysterious choral unison. Often described as transcendental, Lubomyr prefers to think of his music as the "operatic voice for the piano", yet embodies a great calm, inviting the audience to join him in the eye of the storm.
What was initially an attempt to bring the burgeoning minimalist, ambient sound and Indian classical virtuosity to the Western tradition soon became an entirely new genre and world of sound, when Lubomyr left the Canadian conservatoires in the early '70s to work in Paris. Lubomyr's pioneering "continuous music" is both a new physical and mental technique, orthogonal to those of the classical traditions, and a philosophy of piano music and performance. He brings a new sound to the piano, with onlookers often reporting hearing 3 or 4 pianos or being able to hold that sound in their hands, and his range of touches - from the liquidity of a piece like 'Beyond Romance' to the climactic hurricane in 'Windmills', his greatest piece - is made possible only by his mental state, and he attributes the spiritual force of his playing to his Ukrainian heritage.
The organisers, Nathan Adlam and Serhiy Nesterenko, and Lubomyr extend their thanks to the Rector and Chaplain of Exeter College for the venue; to the Master, Fellows and indeed all students at Balliol College for their continuing support of both Lubomyr and the musical society; in particular, to Dr Emilie Capulet, Dr Juan Gonzalez, Dr Alexander Binns, Dr Sung Hee Kim, Dr Anna Zerio, the Revd Dr Laura Biron-Scott, Professor Kate Crosby, Professor Thomas Melham, Louisa Denby, Dasha Nepochatova, Sylvia Temple, Alexander Russell, Oliver Durcan, Rupert Clague, Sean Qualter, Peter Tsakov and countless others for their particular interest and support of this series; and to the Oxford University Ukrainian Society for their endless spirit and the undeniable community buzz they bring to our events. We also thank any and all who attended our previous concert series with Lubomyr, and those who joined in the 'fireside chats', making that first November so special and leaving Lubomyr feeling very welcome in Oxford.
