A Latvian pianist Andrejs Osokins came to Kyiv to give a concert at the end of May 2025. He has consistently supported Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. In 2020, the pianist founded the Osokins Freedom Festival in Riga, which has been dedicated to Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian music was featured in the festival’s concert programs, Ukrainian artists performed in them, and ticket sales went to humanitarian aid for Ukraine and to support the Ukrainian army.
We spoke with Andrejs Osokins about parallels in the history of Latvian and Ukrainian music, music and politics, and personal choices of musicians during the war. Prior to the interview, I asked Andrejs to listen to three piano pieces by Ukrainian composers from different periods of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We began our conversation with a discussion of this music.
Listening to Ukrainian music
Mykola Kolessa, Prelude Fantastic, 1938
This composer knows the piano and how to write for the instrument. I like the way Kolessa’s music combines stability (the harmonic idea seems to repeat itself in the left-hand part) and beautiful emotional improvisations in the right-hand part. It may sound like impressionistic music at first glance, but later you realize that the work’s style is much more romantic. I was impressed by the range of emotions in this piece. Usually, when there are so many sonorous elements and colors in a piano piece, such beauty is somewhat cold. This is the case with Debussy’s music, whose beautiful sounds should be contemplated as if from afar. Kolessa’s music, on the contrary, is very emotional and warm.
There is something similar in Latvian piano music. Many of our composers were influenced by Chopin and Schumann at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were also familiar with new music from France, like Debussy’s, and applied his ideas in their works. Still, Latvian music of that period remained romantic in nature, albeit with some elements of modern musical language.
Volodymyr Zahortsev, Rhythms, 1967/1969
I like the fact that this music contains experiments with sound and harmonic organization but, at the same time, is pleasant to perform. This suggests that Zahortsev’s music is interesting, not only for musicological research, but also for performance and listening. Certainly, a performer should be familiar with the avant-garde ideas of European composers of the mid-twentieth century. A pianist, who specializes in romantic music, would probably try to interpret Rhythms emotionally, but the music itself does not require this.
It is difficult for me to draw parallels between Zahortsev’s music and Latvian music. We have very few composers who wrote in an avant-garde style. Latvia is a small country, and during the occupation by the Soviet Union, many of our cultural people were arrested and sent to Siberia. Thus, even in the 1960s it was quite risky to create avant-garde music.
Zahortsev composed music with such freedom from the socialist realism tradition. In Latvian music, we can probably speakabout avant-garde tendencies starting in the late 1980s. Instead, in the 1960s, our composers were combining Latvian national song traditions with new ideas from musical language of the twentieth century. For example, Pauls Dambis and Pēteris Plakidis represent the direction that we call the new wave.
Vitalii Vyshynskyi, When We Were Naïve, 2024
I quite like this cycle. There are also many pieces written about children or for children in Latvian music. Sometimes it is difficult to understand whether composers write something simple so that children can perform their music, or whether they want their music to be naive, touching, and without significant climaxes. In the cycle When We Were Naïve, Vyshynskyi embodies the idea of music about children in a very fresh piano texture. This is a particularly colorful cycle, and not simple in any way. It is simplicity created with great knowledge.
On the personal discovery of Ukrainian music
I was not very familiar with Ukrainian music previously. In Latvia we have good ties with the European Union countries. I know a lot about music from, for example, Estonia, Scandinavian countries, etc. We know much less about Ukrainian music. Therefore, it was important for me to give Latvian audiences, at our festival in Riga, opportunities to listen to works by Lysenko, Lyatoshynsky, Sylvestrov, Skoryk and other Ukrainian composers.
I’ve never played works by Ukrainian composers, and it was a big challenge for me to play Ukrainian music in Ukraine. It was not a coincidence that I performed Valentyn Sylvestrov’s Kitsch Music, in Kyiv. Sylvestrov came to Latvia, in December 2022. We heard his music and met with him afterwards. I approached Sylvestrov with the Kitsch Music sheet music and asked for his autograph. He told me that this composition was very closely connected with Latvia.
A music festival was held in Latvia during the Soviet Union times and Sylvestrov’s works were performed there. After one of the concerts, the composer sat down at a piano and began to improvise. Some of the musicians, who were lucky enough to hear his improvisations, were impressed by his playing as it sounds fresh, emotional and beautiful. Sylvestrov told those musicians that it was just an improvisation, and not a completed work. Those who listened to the composer said that this music should be written down and published. That’s how Kitsch Music was created.
I was very excited when I heard this touching story from the composer himselfand decided that I had to play this music in Kyiv, because it seems to connect our countries in a special way.
On Latvian music for beginners
Germans influenced and shaped intellectual and cultural environments of the territories of current Latvia since the beginning of the thirteenth century. Separately, Latvians developed their own folklore traditions but Latvian professional music, created by Latvians, began to take shape in the second half of the nineteenth century. Professional music societies were organized. This development was closely connected with the formation of the tradition of song festivals, still relevant today.
At this time, the first orchestral compositions by Latvian composers were written. These were not symphonies, but merely orchestral pieces. The first Latvian symphonies and operas were composed at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in 1886 and 1920 (two years after the founding of the Republic of Latvia).
Piano music appeared in Latvia a bit earlier, at the end of the nineteenth century. An example is the works of Jāzeps Vītols, founder and head of the Riga Academy of Music (1919 – ed.). Jāzeps Mediņš was also a significant figure for Latvian music. He composed a cycle of 24 preludes for piano called “dainas” (also the name of Latvian folk songs). This piano cycle was closely connected with Latvian culture but written in the styles of Chopin and Schumann. Mediņš composed his 24 preludes throughout his life which ended very dramatically; in his last years, the composerfled the Soviet occupation and died as a refugee in Sweden.
Female composers of Latvian music should also be mentioned. The first famous female Latvian composer was Lūcija Garūta. She wrote some beautiful piano pieces in the styles of Debussy and (arguably) Ravel, a lot of children’s music and a cantata Dievs, Tava zeme deg! (God, Your Land is Burning! – ed.). This cantata was composed and first performed during the Second World War. Military operations were raging right outside the walls of the building where the premiere took place. We perceive cantata Dievs,Tava zeme deg! as an important document of that time.
In the middle of the twentieth century, most of our composers wrote music in a traditional manner, not avant-garde. In this regard, the works of Volfgang Dārziņš are interesting. He spent most of his life in the United States and his music contains many innovative ideas. One can draw a parallel with Bartók’s music, but Dārziņš’s music, in my opinion, is much more sincere and not as anti-romantic as Bartok’s.
Regarding contemporary music, I recommend listening to Pēteris Vasks, perhaps the most famous Latvian composer today. He represents the tradition called new simplicity or new sacred music (as does Arvo Pärt, a great friend of Vasks).Vasks’s music is closely connected with the Latvian song tradition. However, Vasks interprets this tradition in his own style, using a modern musical language.
The names I’ve mentioned are the first steps in getting acquainted with Latvian music. We have many other wonderful composers, especially nowadays, composers such as Arthurs Maskats, Juris Karlsons, Andris Dzenītis, Kristaps Pētersons, Raymonds Tiguls and others.
What distinguishes Latvian music
A very important part of Latvian culture is our song heritage. We have a huge collection of songs that were gathered in different regions of Latvia in the early twentieth century, especially during the first period of independence, from 1918 to the Soviet occupation in 1940. These are our roots and our authentic voice. Many Latvian avant-garde music composers, such as Andris Dzenītis, include quotations from Latvian folk songs in their works. When such music is performed, for example, in Berlin or New York, the audience there does not understand the meaning of these words. However, for Latvians, this is an extremely important part of our history, and a way for Latvian musicians to express themselves.
We also have a very strong tradition of choral music, which began in the late nineteenth century. In fact, our national movement originated from the choir – people gathered and united around singing. Latvian choirs are among the best in the world. Many contemporary Latvian composers write wonderful choral music, very innovative, with lots of different sonorous effects. Ēriks Ešenvalds is an outstanding master of such music.
Latvian music is distinguished by its roots in the folk song tradition and its wide range of choral music. These are the most important features that allow a listener say “oh, this is the Latvian music”.
What should we watch, listen, and read to get to know Latvia better
I recommend watching the movie Flow. It won an Oscar this year and many other awards. It’s a cartoon about animals with no words but it demonstrates powerful ideas about how to interact in a global catastrophe environment.
I also recommend, for an experienced listener of classical music, listening to the Second Symphony by Pēteris Vasks. It is an extremely complex and beautiful composition.
For someone new to classical music, I advise to start with Melancholic Waltz by Emīls Dārziņš. This composer was very talented. He wrote music for voice and piano, for choir, and four symphonic miniatures. Dārziņš was criticized for plagiarism in his works, and he destroyed his music. Perhaps that’s the reason he died at a very young age. Miraculously, the score of Melancholic Waltz survived. The composer wrote that the theme of this work came to him when he thought he saw the Virgin Mary during an evening walk. Today it is perhaps the most famous and most frequently performed work of Latvian composers in the world.
It’s hard to choose a Latvian book, as we have lots of great authors, both classic and contemporary. Still, I recommend reading books by Anna Brigadere. She wrote many fairy tales that can be read by children and by adults. Brigadere’s philosophical autobiographical book Dievs, daba, darbs (God, Nature, Work) is an excellent way to learn about our culture and lives of Latvian intellectuals in the twentieth century.
Festival in Riga in support of Ukraine
My work has been closely connected with Ukraine for more than three years. The festival I founded in Riga was reformatted to support Ukraine after the outbreak of the full-scale war. This festival has four main goals.
The first is to help Ukrainian musicians and artists who came to Latvia after February 24, 2022, find their place in Riga, to give them a stage, an opportunity to work with Latvian musicians, and make friends in the professional music environment of Latvia. The second is to give these people a chance to get away from news of the war, stop thinking about problems, about being away from home, and come together at concerts, listen to music, and emotionally engage with Latvian culture. The third important task is to create a broader understanding of Ukrainian music among the Latvian public, for example with concert programs that include many pieces by Ukrainian composers. The fourth goal was formed a bit later. It is a charity initiative to help Ukrainian soldiers by providing them with food in special bags with a heating function. This is convenient, especially in winter, as you can heat the food without electricity or fire. We launched this initiative in October 2022 and have provided about 29,000 such meal kits over the past three years.
Audiences asked me after each concert how they could help Ukraine. Thousands of people joined in the realization of the charity initiative after I proposed it. Latviahas a population of two million, so this is an extremely high number.
The festival’s four goals were realized during the first two years of the full-scale war. A fifth goal was added later: children’s camps with workshops. We held two camps with workshops for Ukrainian teenagers aged 12 – 16 in October and April this year. It is very important to decide at such age whether you want to be a professional musician or not. It was therefore valuable to give Ukrainian children an opportunity to live at least a little bit without air raid sirens and a need to go to shelters. Instead, they practice with our music teachers and perform on stage. We always emphasize that we expect these children to become adult artists who will grow and offer their own interesting musical ideas to our audiences.
The music festival in Riga was founded before the full-scale war broke out. It was not originally connected with Ukraine. However, after the start of Russian invasion, we felt that music should become a tool to unite people in Latvia and send a powerful message to the whole world that Latvia is with Ukraine.
We are not only aware of the situation in Ukraine with our minds in Latvia; we also feel it in our hearts. We were also under Soviet occupation for 50 years and know how dark those times were, full of violence and innocent deaths.
Ukrainians are now fighting for their freedom, land, homes, families, and for the future of Europe and the whole world. That is why we need to support Ukraine as much as we can.
The proceeds from ticket sales for festival events are donated to Ukraine. In addition to helping the military, the proceeds are used for humanitarian aid, like cars, various equipment and generators that our volunteers bring to Kyiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and other cities. We sent boats after the tragedy in the Kherson region in 2023.
We also raise funds to care for animals in the frontline areas. Many people fleeing from shelling or occupation were unable to take their pets with them. Many dogs and cats were left on the streets. There is a powerful organization in Latvia that takes care of abandoned animals. We decided to help animals in Ukraine the same way.
Our festival is not the only organization in Latvia that is systematically involved in helping Ukraine. As you know, Latvia is one of the countries that provides the largest amount of aid to Ukraine in relation to its GDP. The initiative of our festival was useful as we could advise people where exactly they could send their help. Many Latvians read the news, sincerely wanted to help, but did not know how to. We have been talking to people over these three years, offering different ways to help Ukraine.
What should we do with Russian music
Russian culture should be on pause right now. The question of Russian music in the repertoire was raised at our festival. It might appear that not all Russian music is related to the current Russian regime, the KGB, the Bolshevik regime, etc. However, we perform for Ukrainians in the first place and realize that any Russian music can be a painful trigger for a Ukrainian audience. There are tanks and missiles of the evil empire behind Russian music. Russia uses its music as a weapon.
We cannot ask a nineteenth-century Russian composer whose side he is on in the war. Perhaps such composers would have condemned the Russian invasion, but we will never know.
However, we can see that Russian propaganda uses Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and other composers to create an image of a great Russian power that wants to appear good but isn’t good.
You cannot ignore this when you perform now, especially in front of a Ukrainian audience.
At one point, we discussed the appropriateness of Stravinsky’s work in aconcert program. We wanted to perform the work he composed during his stay in the United States, which had nothing to do with Russian culture.
In general, Stravinsky’s music is anti-Bolshevik in my opinion. We decided that Ukrainian listeners might not perceive it that way and replaced Stravinsky’s piece with one by Benjamin Britten. In general, we decided that we would not perform Russian music at the festival. This is the right decision.
Instead, we create programs with works by composers of different styles and eras, which may not have been performed in Latvia very often. This is the position of the festival as an organization.
Playing or not playing Russian music is a matter of conscience for each musician. In today’s world, it is impossible to forbid anyone to perform anything, since you don’t need a government permit to organize a concert or just to post a video of yourself playing online. I can decide for myself only.
The year 2022 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Scriabin. I created a program based on his music and presented it in Latvia in January and early February 2022. When the full-scale war broke out, I stopped playing this music. I had a very strange feeling, because I had devoted a lot of time and effort to this program. However, I believe it was the right thing to do.
I don’t want my concerts to cause suffering to listeners. On the contrary, I’d like the music to give a sense of inspiration and unity to my audience. I performed Latvian and Ukrainian music at the Kyiv Philharmonic and felt that the music truly united people. Perhaps the audience heard the works of Latvian composers for the first time, but the reaction was still very emotional. At that moment I realized that even unfamiliar music can be powerful. The main thing is that it is honest, human, and performed sincerely. Then it can unite people.
Art, Politics and Russian Artists
Collaboration with Russian artists is a very complicated issue nowadays. I think – and this is the official position of the festival – that contemporary Russian artists should publicly voice their position on the war. They should do so in a way that they can be heard. Some may argue why we should ask Russians to speak out on this topic, since the war may not be a part of their lives, etc. However, articulating a position shapes the cultural atmosphere and attitude to this war around the world.
The situation with Russian war in Ukraine is obvious for Latvians but it may not be as clear for people in France and other Western countries. Perhaps some Europeans do not realize why this war is happening and that Russia is the aggressor. Certainly, Europeans are concerned about their financial situation. Sometimes they say that the war should be stopped because it interferes with business. People do not understand the essence of this war.
That is why we cooperate with artists who clearly oppose the war and the Putin regime. For example, among such musicians there is a Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova (before the full-scale war started, she supported Putin in the elections, after the full-scale Russian invasion she emigrated to Latvia – ed.). In the first months of the war, she very strongly and clearly condemned Russia’s actions, and performed several anti-Russian shows in Riga.
There is an opinion that musicians and artists in general should stay away from politics, not comment on political situations,and not express their positions, since they are not experts on politics. Politics concerns everyone and plays a crucial role in society. You cannot separate yourself from politics, just as you cannot separate yourself from society. You live in a society and use its benefits. Hence, at important times in society, musicians must voice their opinions about politics in their countries.
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