Participating musicians: Andreas F. Staffel (piano), Vera Ryshkova (guitar), Oleksandra Kiktenko (piano), Alina Bergman (songwriter), Maria Eydman (piano), Roman Yusipey (accordion) and others.

Special Guest: Sociologist Igor Eydmann talks about his book The Putin System.

Program

Alina Bergman
Author's songs

Vera Ryshkova
Paulo Martelli “Koyunbaba” (C. Domeniconi)

Roman Yusipey
Maksym Kolomiiets (*1981) "Feuer in deinen Augen"
Myroslaw Skoryk (1938-2020) "Ukrainische Melodie"
Wladimir Zubitskiy (*1953) "Ommagio ad Astor Piazzolla"

Oleksandra Kiktenko
Claude Debussy, Estampes, L 100

Andreas F. Staffel
Andreas F. Staffel "Schatten tasten"

Maria Eydman
Brahms, 7 Fantasien, Op. 116

Alina Bergman

Alina Bergman is a songwriter from Odesa, Ukraine. Since the age of 16, she has been composing songs, accompanying herself on guitar and piano, and performing with them in Ukraine and abroad. Her songs touch the soul even of those who did not understand the language. Her songs are a combination of subtlety and courage. They are lines and melodies that stay in your head and heart for a long time. Her performance is a celebration of the most honest and courageous feelings.

Igor Eydman

Igor Eydam was born the son of a doctor. He is a younger cousin of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015. He studied history at Lobachevsky University, worked as a journalist and editor, and as a political adviser to liberal Duma deputies.

Eydam was employed as communications director at the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (WZIOM), the largest of its kind in Russia. In his articles and lectures, he analyzed the social and political consequences of the Internet and the development of social networks, and published a study on the subject in 2007.[1] In the wake of a report by a New York Times correspondent on a corruption case in which he was named as a witness, he lost his job at WZIOM and was subjected to social hostility. He subsequently left Russia with his family in 2011 and moved to Leipzig.

Journalistic articles he published on Ekho Moskvy in 2012 in support of the group Pussy Riot drew a lawsuit from the Orthodox Church of Russia.

In 2016, he explained that Russians under Putin's government ("homo putinicus" in reference to "homo sowjeticus") are "anti-Westerners" in whom Soviet revanchism is paired with newly adopted religiosity. This is the result of "total Putin propaganda" in parallel with the adoption of such a state ideology, which creates the atmosphere of a "besieged fortress." Eydam nevertheless believes that Russian citizens will lose fear in Putin's regime just as they did under the communist dictatorship, because even "the most cunning, ambitious, and self-confident dictatorships" in today's modern world would eventually fail.[2] However, he also cited the danger of Russian corrupt business practices[3] infiltrating the European democratic state and legal system as a very similar issue to Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Since December 2019, he has been editor-in-chief of M.NEWS, an international online medium for news and analysis.

Maria Eydman

Maria Eydman was born in Moscow in 2005 and moved to Germany with her family in 2009. She received her first piano lessons at the age of six and already after half a year she won her first piano competition. At the age of 10 she was invited to her first solo piano recital in Leipzig. Since then she has given numerous solo recitals and concerts for piano with orchestras on various stages, such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Schloss Schönbrunn Vienna, Schloss Eggenberg, Schloss Ettlingen, Frederic Chopin Dworek and others. At the age of 16 Maria successfully passed the entrance examination to the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin and became a student of Prof. Eldar Nebolsin.

Her competition successes in recent years include:

• 2021 – 1st Prize and Gold Medal at the Gina Bachauer Young Artists International Piano Competition 2021 in USA
• 2020 – 1st Prize at the XIV Campillos International Piano Competition in Spain
• 2020 – 1st Prize and EMCY Prize at the 17th Ettlingen Int’l Piano Competition in Germany
• 2019 – 1st prize and a special prize for Best Bartók Interpretation (in an older age group of 16-18 years) at the 6th International Béla Bartók Piano Competition in Austria
• 2019 – 1st prize at the International Anton Rubinstein Competition for young pianists in Germany
• 2018 – 2nd prize at the 8th International Chopin Piano Competition in Hungary

Maria was invited to renowned festivals, among others the "DUSZNIKI INTERNATIONAL CHOPIN PIANO FESTIVAL" in Poland and the "ARSONORE - International Music Festival", in Austria and performed there as a soloist.

Oleksandra Kiktenko

Oleksandra Kiktenko was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. She has been studying piano since she was 5 years old and is currently studying at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (HMTMH). Music has and continues to save her in the most difficult times, and you can hear and feel these experiences in her performances.

Alexandra is the winner of several national and international competitions, such as the Prokofiev Competition in Kyiv and a concerto competition in Lucerne, USA.

Vera Ryshkova

Vera Ryshkova is from Nikolaev, Ukraine. She has been playing guitar for 21 years already. At the moment she is doing her post-graduate studies at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), specializing in Concert, Examination - Guitar.

Andreas F. Staffel

Andreas F. Staffel studied composition with Bojidar Dimov and Manfred Trojahn in Düsseldorf and piano with Prof. Oleg Maisenberg in Stuttgart. Master classes for composition and piano, among others with Wolfgang Rihm, Isabelle Mundry, Pi-Hsien Chen, Vitali Margoulis, participation in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music concerts and master classes in Europe, North and Central America, Central and Southeast Asia. Collaboration with renowned soloists and ensembles (Ensemble Mosaik, Minguetquartett, Auditiv Vocal, Ensemble Junge Musik, Modern Art Ensemble and many others) Various film music compositions Founding and directing of the Musikstudio Ohrpheo as well as the festival En Counterpoints. Awards and scholarships.

www.andreas-staffel.de

Roman Yusipey

Roman Yusipey (button accordion) was born in 1979 in the Ukrainian city of Kherson. He studied at the Music Academy in Kiev, the University of Music in Hanover, the Folkwang Uni in Essen (master's degree) and the Cologne University of Music (concert exam).
In addition to performances in Ukraine and Germany, Roman Yusipey has given concerts in France, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Malta, Italy and Japan. As a soloist he gave over 70 concerts with orchestras. In active cooperation with numerous contemporary composers, he was the interpreter of the world premieres of their works. Furthermore, in recent seasons Roman Yusipey has performed at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Jena Philharmonic, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Mozarteum Salzburg and Salle Cortot Paris.

Anastasiia Kovalenko - organizer

Anastasiia Kovalenko is an organizer of exhibitions and concerts from Kyiv, Ukraine. She has been working in marketing and PR for 7 years. Now she works with IT projects and cultural organizations. Anastasiia believes that art is the only language that everyone can understand. So if you want to reach many people - spread your ideas through art!