Photo : Conservatoire Nadia et Lili Boulanger - crée avec l'aide de Microsoft IA (Copilot)
Slavic Dialogue, Sofia Gubaidulina & Svetlana Alexievich
How can music and words tell History? Through the encounter between Sofia Gubaidulina’s Sonata for two bassoons and the testimonies collected by Svetlana Alexievich, this show weaves a narrative where artistic creation and collective memory respond to each other with rare intensity.
Bibliothèque Valeyre (Paris 9th)
Part of the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatory Events programme
About
Two major creators from the Soviet sphere, composer Sofia Gubaidulina and writer Svetlana Alexievich, meet in this performance conceived and performed by bassoonists Antoine Pecqueur and Amandine Rivière.
A musician and journalist, Antoine Pecqueur develops projects at the intersection of music and social issues. Amandine Rivière, a bassoonist committed to creation and transmission, shares with him a taste for contemporary repertoires and formats that bring music into dialogue with other disciplines. Together, they imagine a show where the bassoon becomes, by turns, a voice, sonic matter, and an instrument of memory.
Through Gubaidulina’s Sonata for two bassoons, composed in 1977, and excerpts from The Unwomanly Face of War by Alexievich, published in 1985, music and literature enter into dialogue. Gubaidulina makes the tensions and upheavals of her time heard through sound; Alexievich gathers the voices of women who lived through the war, giving a place to those whom History has too often left in the shadows.
The performance thus weaves a plural narrative around women, war, and memory, where words extend sounds and music becomes another space for testimony. By bringing musical creation and documentary speech into dialogue, "Slavic Dialogue" invites us to listen differently to the traces left by Soviet history and to measure their resonance in our present.
Coordination: Antoine Pecqueur
Our take on this event
The bassoon takes center stage as a storyteller, peeling back the layers of Soviet history through raw sound and documented memory. Witness a hauntingly beautiful fusion where contemporary composition meets the courageous testimonials of women forgotten by history.
The Bibliothèque Valeyre presents Dialogue slave on Saturday, March 13, 2027, from 11:00 to 12:30. Created and performed by bassoonists Antoine Pecqueur and Amandine Rivière, this show brings together the music of Sofia Goubaïdoulina and the writings of Svetlana Alexievitch. This free event, which is wheelchair accessible, invites the audience to explore Soviet history through a unique blend of contemporary sounds and documentary literature. It is an opportunity to discover how music and memory intertwine to give voice to those who have often been left in the shadows of history, right in the heart of the 9th arrondissement.
On Saturday, March 13, 2027, the Bibliothèque Valeyre hosts a compelling artistic performance titled Dialogue slave. Running from 11:00 to 12:30, this event features bassoonists Antoine Pecqueur and Amandine Rivière in a dialogue between two iconic Soviet-era creators: composer Sofia Goubaïdoulina and writer Svetlana Alexievitch.
The performance combines Goubaïdoulina's 1977 Sonata for two bassoons with excerpts from Alexievitch’s 1985 work, The Unwomanly Face of War. Through this collaboration, the bassoon transforms into a voice and a vessel for memory, highlighting the stories of women who experienced war firsthand. The show aims to bridge musical creation and historical testimony, offering a profound reflection on the traces of the Soviet past and their ongoing relevance today.
Coordinated by Antoine Pecqueur, this event is free for all attendees. The venue, located at 24 rue Marguerite de Rochechouart, is fully accessible to wheelchair users, ensuring that the experience is open to everyone interested in this cross-disciplinary encounter.
