About the 2024 Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival
Started in 2020, the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival is a platform for the performance and discussion of the complex and unique contributions to contemporary music through performance and discussion with scholars, musicians, and composers. The festival engages the intersection of new music, contemporary events, and the culture of Ukraine.
On March 28-30, 2024, the fifth season of the Ukrainian
Contemporary Music Festival celebrates Ukrainian music made and played
beyond the geographical borders of Ukraine.
This year’s festival takes place a decade after the Ukrainian
Revolution of Dignity and the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine and
two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
CROSSING BORDERS: UKRAINIAN MUSIC BEYOND UKRAINE
2024 PROGRAMS
DEFENSE-DEFIANCE-DEDICATION
THU, MARCH 28 | 7PM | The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018
Since the start of Russia’s current war against Ukraine in 2014, Ukrainian music has taken on new purposes. Each of the works on this program has a function, but their utility goes beyond conventional music for use, such as entertainment or education. In the face of a decade of Russian aggression these works reveal how music can serve new purposes for composers and their audiences.
Roman Grygoriv, Langsam 9M27K
Karmella Tsepkolenko, Cantata “Reading History”
Maxim Kolomiiets, Footprints on the Sun
Zoltan Almashi, Maria’s City
Olga Zaitseva-Herz, Bakhmut Rhapsody [WORLD PREMIERE]
Leonid Hrabovsky, EQVIN
FEATURING Fima Chupakhin, Forrest Eimhold, Marichka Marczyk, Sofia Nowik, NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble, Margarita Rovenskaya, Valeriya Sholokhova, Vira Slywotzky, Alexander Yakub and Olga Zaitseva-Herz.
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VIRKO BALEY AT 85
FRI, MARCH 29 | 7PM | The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018
Famed Ukrainian-American composer Virko Baley celebrates his 85th birthday with the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival.
Nocturnal No. 5, “In the Grove” (1980)
Soliloquies & a Dialogue (2023-34) [WORLD PREMIERE]
–INTERMISSION–
Nocturnal No. 7, "Introitus" (1990; rev. 2013-14)
From Dreamtime (1993-95; rev. 2005)
Treny IV (1996-99)
Postludium: From Uniforms of Snow: No. 10, Interlude 2: Tren (2002-3)
FEATURING Yuliya Basis, Andrii Didorenko, Julia Henderson, Timothy Hoft, Gleb Kanasevich, Olga Pasichnyk, Anastasia Petanova, Ginevra Petrucci, Valeriya Sholokhova, Laura Spitzer, and Sean Statser.
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TRAVEL DIARIES
SAT, MARCH 30 | 7PM | The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018
Each of the pieces on this program evokes a story of travel: escape, emigration, education and employment abroad, eternal farewell. The works of a young generation of Ukrainian composers are paired with established voices from Ukraine, including the country’s most famous living composer and two of contemporary music’s leading figures.
Fima Chupakhin, One Day They Will Be Dancing
Valentyn Sylvestrov, Silent Songs: Farewell, world
Steve Reich, Different Trains (II. Europe)
Marian Fil, Devaldi Korbes
Mykhailo Chedryk, Sonare [WORLD PREMIERE]
Ksenia Stetsenko, Fluchtlingesdodekaphonie No. 24
Kaia Saariaho, Changing Light
FEATURING Yuliya Basis, Alexander Chaplinskiy, Hsuan-Fong Chen, Paul Cho, Fima Chupakhin, Jennifer Gliere, Mike Lormand, Gleb Kanasevich, Tristan Kasten-Krause, Anna Keiserman, Ginevra Petrucci, Sean Statser, Valeriya Sholokhova, Hans Tashjian, and The Rhythm Method.
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UCMF AFTERDARK
SAT, MARCH 30 | 9PM | Mriya Gallery, 101 Reade St New York, NY 10013
UCMF’s first ever after-hours event at Mriya Gallery in Tribeca. Performance by electronic-folk duo Hopanka from Montreal. Doors open at 8:30PM
Join UCMF after dark as we celebrate our fifth season
This year we will be introducing a special late-night reception with live music following our final concert on March 30. This event is presented in partnership with RUKH ART HUB at the first Ukrainian gallery in the United States, MRIYA GALLERY in TriBeCa.
Tickets are $10 // FREE for UCMF ticket holders. Space is limited, reserve now!
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Please visit the official Festival website for more information: ucmfnyc.com.
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Click here for the official 2024 Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival website and more information, including performers, composers, video recordings, photos, past events, media, partners and more. The Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY and the CUNY Adjunct Incubator with the Gittell Urban Studies Collective are proud co-partners and supporters of the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival organized by Leah Bastone.
