Celebrating the 90th anniversary of Oleg Karavaichuk

Israeli choreographer Roy Assaf had never heard of Oleg Karavaichuk, nor listened to his music. During his illustrious career in France and the Netherlands, he never had an opportunity to come across the eccentric genius who had, back in St. Petersburg, created a musical universe all of his own. It was Marat Shemiunov who originally had the idea of using Karavaichuk’s music for a ballet. Shemiunov had collaborated with Karavaichuk on multiple occasions and the two were well acquainted.

When Assaf first heard Gamma, he was overcome with emotion. „It’s so simple and yet so complex, emotional and yet intellectual, concrete and yet abstract, spiritual and corporal, mundane and sublime, hard and soft, near and distant, familiar and forbidding — all at the same time“, he said as he began to put his feelings into words, before adding in conclusion: „It is just fabulous!“ Karavaichuk’s music inspired him to create a mini-performance for three dancers. The performance tells the tale of the many different paths that can be taken in a man’s life, how he can overcome trials and tribulations, how he yearns for supremacy, how he can endure as life’s hopes erupt in heated passion and then fade away, and how he needs friendship and rivalry, brute force and disembodied fantasies.