«Breeding Ground for Artistic Explosion»: What an American musician sees in Lviv
Plus: Where to go for the weekend; bartender becomes top ten in the world; Saudi tourists stroll the streets; and the quest for authentic conversation in the city's cafés
Lviv Now, created by Ukrainian and American journalists, brings you the universal ideas of a vibrant city, a place of culture, freedom, and innovation. Join the conversation about how we can build better cities and democracies.
SECTIONS: Lviv Live Music | Wealth & Democracy | Food & Drink | Travel & Nature | Soul & Culture | About Us
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Lviv Live Music
Leading Jazz Pianist Eric Wortham: Lviv is «Breeding Ground for Artistic Explosion»
«THERE’S AN energy of family and community,» says Eric Wortham, music director for Seal and former pianist for Adele, «There was no jealousy, but a lot of support and camaraderie, which is the breeding ground for any type of artistic explosion. A great deal of selflessness.»
«Appreciation for the art was at an all time high [in Lviv], as high as any other place I’ve been around the world,» he says.
Wortham, who has played all over the world, including a residency in Shanghai, is from Philadelphia – a place with deep jazz history, south of New York and north of D.C.
Story by Joe Lindsley. Read more …
SEE ALSO:Sunrise Jams with the Legends: Lviv’s New Musical Moment
FROM LAST WEEK: Kamasi Washington and others talk with Lviv Now about the city, Jazz Fest, and creativity. Story by Joe Lindsley.
Food & Drink
Lviv’s Andrii Osypchuk Named Top-Ten Bartender in the World
«If we play smart we here in Lviv can get to this point when people see we are doing something different» —Andrii Osypchuk
Last week, World Class, an annual elite bartending competition hosted by the global spirits firm Diageo named Lviv’s Andrii Osypchuk one of the world’s ten best bartenders, selecting him from among 50 national champions across the globe. Here is Lviv Now’s profile of Osypchuk, in which he tells of his vision for locally-sourced drinking:
Story by Joe Lindsley. Read more …
SEE ALSO:
«I Want to Give People What Is In My Soul»: The Story of a Natural Wine Shop in Lviv
“Some of my favorite drinking places in the world are natural wine shops: Giaconda Wine Library on a busy corner in Tel Aviv; Rosforth & Rosforth, a small storeroom under a Copenhagen bridge; Garage Wines in Batumi, Georgia; and now there is such a place, at the highest level, in Lviv: My Wine ... Story by Joe Lindsley
Craft-Cheese Factories of Lviv Region, Where Goat Cheese is Made
Today, more and more farmers are emerging in Ukraine to produce cheese exclusively from goat’s milk. Particularly in the Lviv region, there are several of these cheese manufacturers. Story by Sofia Shavransk.
Travel & Nature
Goats, Pottery, and Fishing: A Weekend Trip to Slavske
IT’S LIKELY that the name Slavske comes from a nickname slavni («glorious»), which the locals received for participating in the campaigns of Sviatoslav Volodymyrovych, a prince of Kievan Rus’. It takes more than two hours to get here from Lviv, but the road is nice, and the scenery fuels the desire to climb to the top as soon as possible.
After meeting the goats, it’s time to go and catch your dinner. In Slavske, several recreation complexes offer fishing, after which they will prepare your catch.
Another specificity of Slavske is that there are many different pools and spas for every taste: open and covered, with or without heating. For those who want solitude, the village complexes offer separate guest houses. If the soul still asks for an extreme, you can climb a rope among the Carpathian trees.
Read more from Kateryna Bortnyak. Translated by Vitalii Holich …
SEE ALSO:Where to Go for a Weekend: Try Rafting on the Mountain Rivers in Lviv Region
Real daredevils and those who merely want to spend their weekend actively can do it on the rivers Opir and Stryi, which flow in the Lviv region. Such recreation is available even for beginners and kids. Story by Olha Koval.
Soul & Culture
«People Need to Be Scared of Being Fake»: Finding Authenticity in Lviv
CITY OF CONVERSATIONS, a Lviv Now column: Lviv is a city of sidewalk cafés. In the summer, the tables spill into the cobbled streets. As people walk by and see friends, they grab chairs and soon the gathering grows and the conversation flows, often about life and meaning, a scene analogous perhaps to 1920s Paris. We share with you some of these stories.
This week: What keeps us from being our authentic selves? Maybe it is a misplaced fear:
«This is the problem," » said Petro, the bartender. «People do not say what they want to say, because they are scared of being wrong. But no! People need to be scared of being fake. That’s the thing to be scared of: being fake.»
«What’s your favorite Hemingway story?» Drew asked.
«‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro» I said. «That is my favorite, or maybe it’s the one that accuses me the most. The protagonist, who seems to be Hemingway himself, is dying on the side of the mountain; the girl with him, unable to help. And all he can think of is all the real stories he didn’t tell, because he was too afraid to hurt people or to tell the story incorrectly.»
Wealth & Democracy
Lviv Becomes a Center for Tourists from Saudi Arabia
«PEOPLE ARE very open here, trying to communicate. It’s impressive.»
It’s crowded and hot on the Rynok (Market) square, tourists gather in groups. A couple of tourists from India take photos with sculptures of lions at the entrance to the city council. Nearby, guys from China are taking selfies and joking loudly. And there are people from Muslim countries who attract a lot of attention – quite atypical tourists for Lviv and for Ukraine in general, but, as it turned out, they are very desirable here.
Story by Victoria Savytska; translated by Vitalii Holich. Read more …
SEE ALSO:
Maye Musk, Nutritionist, Model, and Mother of Elon, Will Speak at Lviv’s IT Arena 2021
In her speech, the expert will focus on women’s impact in the development of the technological sphere.
About Us
Lviv Now: Showing How Strong a Community Can Be When Creating Quality Changes Together
LVIV NOW is a project of Tvoe Misto (“Your City”), Lviv’s solutions-focused media hub, working with American journalist Joe Lindsley.
Each week, the journalists of Tvoe Misto, led by editor-in-chief Svitlana Zhabiuk and publisher Taras Yatsenko, host problem-solving public forums, one topic at a time, to activate democracy for all citizens. Their newsroom provides daily reporting as part of their solutions-focused journalism. We welcome you to share this newsletter or individual stories with digital nomads, creative people, travelers, diplomats, researchers, entrepreneurs, the Ukrainian diaspora, and more!
“Through the Lviv Now project, we want to tell the English-speaking audience about Lviv as a lively and attractive city, with its unique architecture, history, and entrepreneurial initiatives. We seek to show how strong a community can be when creating quality changes together,” says the director of the media hub Tvoe Misto, Taras Yatsenko.
“We hope Lviv Now will be useful and interesting among the English-speaking audience of scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, journalists and tourists, as well as firmly establish Lviv on the global map of the world,” Yatsenko says. “Therefore, the slogan of our project is "Let's Open Lviv to the world!"
For more stories and to leave comments, please visit our website LvivNow.com. We welcome your ideas and responses.