Vitali Alekseenok

How can a festival impact society most significantly in your opinion?

A festival can impact society most significantly by developing a sense of community and belonging. It brings people together across diverse backgrounds, creating opportunities for shared cultural experiences, collective memory-making, and social cohesion. Festivals can celebrate traditions, arts, and customs, promoting cultural preservation while also encouraging intercultural exchange and understanding. Taking into account the situation in Ukraine, festivals there also become one of the mouthpieces of cultural resistance, expression of civic position, defence of one's views and moral support of the public in the festival location and beyond.

Can music festivals influence politics as a sector?

I think that even though music festivals are not typically political events by nature, they can change a lot in society and consequently in politics. Among other things, they can draw attention to specific topics and facts, shape political and social discourse, mobilise audiences and bring together people from different backgrounds. Major festivals can also have an economic impact on the local economy, which in one way or another leads to interaction and dialogue with politics. In socially demanding situations such as wars, state repression, political, social and religious conflicts, festivals can be a voice for public opinion as well as a catalyst for change in the political structure.

Do we want to fulfil a societal purpose? More than ever, or less?

I think the degree to which music festival pursue societal objectives can vary depending on the festival, its audience, and its organizers' priorities. 

Nevertheless, many social factors have become more relevant and are reflected in the cultural agenda. These include climate change, sustainability, diversity, cultural connections between different social groups and many others. In my opinion, with the growth of access to information, the social component in the cultural agenda has increased significantly. As long as it does not lead to one-sided, nearly political lobbying of some special social group, to commercialisation of these ideas and overwork of the festival team, it definitely makes sense.

Belarusian-German conductor Vitali Alekseenok attracted international attention after winning the 2021 Arturo Toscanini Conducting Competition, where he received the first prize, Audience Award and other prizes. 

Alekseenok has been Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg since the beginning of the 24/25 season. He also works as Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Among the highlights of this and previous seasons, Vitali Alekseenok has made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Teatro del Maggio in Florence, the Salzburg Festival, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro and with numerous symphony orchestras in Germany, Italy, Ireland and other countries.

He has been the artistic director of the Kharkiv Music Festival.