LADA

Lada is a figure from ancient Slavic mythologies, associated with love and harmony. She is found in both Russian and Ukrainian traditions—a shared root, older than all the borders that separate these two countries today.

I composed this piece in a few days upon learning of the invasion of Ukraine. I did not seek to recount the war. On the contrary, I sought what could still connect two peoples whom history had just pitted against one another.

This allocution for two pianos brings the Russian national anthem and the Ukrainian national anthem into dialogue, not as two confronting forces, but as two voices that, by responding to one another, eventually join together. What the piece seeks to sound is not a struggle, but a space where both melodies can still coexist.

An opportunity to recall through music what conflict always causes us to forget: that before being enemies, two peoples long shared the same legends, the same goddesses, the same roots. Lada carries this discreet and stubborn reminder that peace remains possible as long as there exists a place—if only on a score—where two opposing voices can still understand each other and converse.