Announcement:

An invitation to form a Nordic Shostakovich Society

On August 9, 1975 in his sixty-ninth year Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich
passed away.  Many would agree that his monumental life work forms the
most important artistic document of our times.  He left a permanent and
inevitable mark that no one can escape from on all musical forms and
genres.  Each work triggered a fight.  Each work placed itself in the
middle of the ever ongoing struggle for human dignity and freedom, and
will continue to do so, because as Shostakovich himself so precisely
expressed it:  "History, as we see, repeats itself." Sofia Khentova
phrased it "Everything he wrote was, in essence, a protest against slavery;
music, the creative process, remained the last refuge of the free spirit".
Shostakovich himself wrote:"We need brave music.  I mean brave, because it
is truthful"

Through the last years the interest in Shostakovich music has steadily
grown in the northern countries.  This has been possible through the
devotion and artictic insight of great orchestral directors and devoted
soloists and chamber musicians.  Maybe it would be right to maintain that
through the intense cultivation of Shostakovich heritage in the nordic
countries the artistic niveau has seen a remarkable growth.The music of
Shostakovich has been a catalyser for artistic excellence.  But it has also
contributed to a better understanding of the function and place of music in
contemporary society.

To continue and intensify this trend and to work for an ever wider
understanding and appreciation of Shostakovich* music in the northern
countries we invite to the formation of a Nordic Shostakovich Society.
The formal founding is expected to take place in Oslo on August 9, 2000.

We invite all interested in membership to indicate this through sending
an e-mail to

Kjell Skyllstad: [log in to unmask] or

Peter Lundin: [log in to unmask]

Please  give us your thoughts on the activities of the new society.

Information about forming progress will be posted at:

   http://hem.fyristorg.com/DDS/nss.html


For the founding committee
Kjell Skyllstad
Peter Lundin