Solum by Yurii Pikush. A New Ukrainian Piece for Cello and Piano Has Been Released

In December, Ukrainian composer Yurii Pikush released his new work Solum, performed by Hlib Sasko (cello) and Maksym Shadko (piano). 

The piece was recorded thanks to the KEY WORK: Art Grants grant program from RIBBON International and Jam Factory Art Center. We spoke with the composer and performers about the history of the piece, the peculiarities of performing contemporary music, and their experience with commissions, scholarships, and grants.

Yurii Pikush, Ukrainian composer, winner of the Second All-Ukrainian Myroslav Skoryk Competition, laureate of the Levko Revutsky State Prize, the All-Ukrainian Mykola Leontovych Prize, and the Hanna Havrylets Prize, tells us how Solum came about.

His compositions are performed at international contemporary music festivals, and his work is based on a constant search for new ideas, forms, and techniques. The idea to write a piece came from the performers for their program, which presents a retrospective of Ukrainian chamber music for cello and piano from the last 55 years.

Yurii: In May, Hlib and Maksym asked me to write a piece. At the end of September and beginning of October, they presented it at the Contrasts Festival in Lviv and the Kyiv Music Fest, and in November at the Vere Music Fund hub as part of a program featuring works by Stankovych, Bibik, Froliak, Shalygin, and Ivanov. I had complete freedom and was inspired by the opportunity to work more closely with Maksym and Hlib once again — we had already crossed paths in other projects, and I was impressed by their performing styles.

It was essential for me to collaborate with them and achieve the expected sound together, especially when it came to preparing the piano. The piece was performed with her at the festival premieres, but we had to make some edits for the concert at the hub. Of course, the prepared timbre was important to me, but without the preparation, the piece became even more ascetic and intelligent. 

The composer created music that gently flows through three classical stages of development. At the poles of the form are nostalgic, drawn-out, stifled breaths of the cello in the light, transparent texture of the piano accompaniment. The use of the timbral palette of both instruments here appears as a subtle work with the fragility of cold semitones and the resonances of silence. The central section is dominated by whimsical, rhythmically demanding constructions, sometimes typical, and from this, bold moves, in combination with which the dramatic story reaches a climax, exposing the deliberate abstractness of the composition and opening up space for those feelings that every listener can acknowledge for themselves.

Yurii often experiments with extended techniques in his music, so it is common practice for him to consult with musicians. 

Maksym Shadko is a laureate of numerous international competitions in Ukraine, Spain, and France, and has performed as a soloist with leading symphony orchestras in Ukraine. He was a co-organizer of the Days of New Music in Kharkiv festival, actively participates in international master classes, and has been receiving grant support from the VERE MUSIC FUND since 2018. He is a soloist with the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. In 2025, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Classical Music Foundation, Maksym released “Music of Kharkiv” with recordings of music by Kharkiv composers. 

Hlib Sasko is a laureate of national and international competitions and actively performs in Ukraine and abroad as a soloist and ensemble player, including in chamber ensembles. Over the years, he has been a member of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the New Era Orchestra, and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, and from 2022 to 2025, he was an artist with the orchestra of the National Opera of Ukraine. From the 2023/2024 season, he was be a guest artist, and from May 2025, he is be the concertmaster of the cello section of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine.

The performers talk about the different aspects of their collaboration on the project.

Maksym: The score for Solum looks pretty traditional, but it also uses a bunch of advanced techniques. While working together on the piece, we made some purely technical edits. I really value working with young contemporary composers: feeling connected to the process, co-creating during the preparation of the piece, especially if you are going to perform the premiere.

Of course, it’s a pity when you can’t offer the author a fee. Hlib and I wanted to play this piece. Fortunately, a grant eventually came through. This is really necessary because work must be paid for. Recently, I participated in other grant projects as a performer, for example, in projects recording Lyatoshynsky’s symphonies or Stankovych’s chamber symphonies. 

Many artists, especially at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, thought about changing professions. Now we understand that we must make ourselves heard.

Hlib Sasko: Most of the contemporary works I perform are written by Ukrainian composers. For me, this is a kind of personal mission, the understanding of which deepened after the full-scale invasion, although I had been interested in Ukrainian composers, including students, even before 2022. Over time, this interest grew into a desire to create something new — together with Ukrainian artists. 

Unfortunately, it seems to me that most young musicians are not interested in contemporary Ukrainian music. Often, they do not know their peers who write music. The chamber ensemble department at the conservatory mostly works with the old repertoire, and the older generation pays virtually no attention to new authors.

To date, grant support for composers in Ukraine has been sporadic rather than systematic. The situation is similar to music commissions: they are rare, and a full commission involves a fee for the composer’s work, whereas in practice, authors most often receive only informal offers.

Yurii: I received my first international commission in 2022, when a wave of support for Ukrainian artists began. I think it is now declining significantly. It was a piece called Protean for the Swiss ensemble Proton Bern, which specializes in contemporary music, and announced an open call for Ukrainian composers. There was plenty of time; I submitted my application at the end of summer 2022, and the score had to be submitted in April of the following year. 

Another significant experience for me was related to the German festival of new music in Bamberg. The organizer wanted to commission works from two composers, provided they lived in Ukraine. He was given several portfolios and chose me, and Danylo Hetman. That’s how my piece Be a Cycle came about, performed by the Ukrainian ensemble Nostri Temporis. They are wonderful musicians: Nazarii Stets, Dmytro Tavanets, Nataliya Kozhushko-Maksymiv, and Andriy Pavlov. The fee covered both the work itself and the trip for the performers and composers to the festival.

In 2024, I received another commission from Roman Rewakowicz, a Polish-Ukrainian conductor and composer, one of the founders of the Kontrasty Festival and Ukrainian Music Days in Warsaw. I wrote Escape Velocity for the Kyiv Camerata under his baton. Rewakowicz first heard my music at the Skoryk Composition Competition in Lviv, where I won first prize. After that, he commissioned me to write a piece. It was performed at the Polish Radio studio in the Lutosławski Hall. 

Around the same time, I received a request from Jerzy Kornowicz to write a piece for the Basel Sinfonietta for the Warsaw Autumn Festival. This is how the composition Domi Res Militaris, which is particularly significant to me, came about. 

Of course, I am delighted to have the opportunity to hear my works in Ukraine, and I am grateful to the performers and institutions with whom I have had fruitful cooperation. These include the Senza Sforzando and NotaBene Chamber Group ensembles, soloists Nataliia Kozhushko-Maksymiv, Roman Fotuima, and Daria Shutko, the orchestras of the National Philharmonic (Kyiv) and the Lviv National Philharmonic, and projects from the Center for Young Music…

Classical music is unprofitable. All over the world, philharmonic halls and theaters operate at a loss and receive substantial assistance from the state. This is especially true for contemporary classical music, which has a much smaller audience. But, for example, in Poland there are many young composers who see prospects in their work, strive and develop. And then, figuratively speaking, a new Lutosławski or Penderecki will emerge from this generation. Or maybe not. But without such a system, the chances are minimal.

So, it seems that the story of Solum is an example not only of a single supported initiative, but also of the solidarity and enthusiasm of a creative community that is looking for ways to develop the contemporary art system.

 

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Read also:

• Contemporary Music for Saxophone and Piano — a New Release from Ukraine
• Music of Kharkiv. Ukrainian Piano Album Full of Tenderness
• Violinist and Сomposer Katarina Gryvul About Her Path to Sound Art