Presented in partnership with the Center for Humanities at the Graduate Center, the second annual Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival will be taking place online from Friday, March 5 – Sunday, March 7, 2021, and will explore the role of music in contemporary Ukrainian culture and politics through lively presentations and performances under the theme “Voices Across Generations” to mark thirty years of Ukrainian independence. GC Music students are among the performers featured!

Streamed from stages across NYC, including the Ukrainian Museum, on the Musae online platform, the Festival will provide space to both hear today’s most exciting Ukrainian new music and to contextualize its place within a broader scope of history and society. Each event held during the festival will pair thought-provoking commentary by distinguished scholars of Ukrainian history and culture with a performance of works by Ukraine’s leading living composers, surveying Ukraine’s musical triumphs during contemporary independence. The festival showcases Ukraine’s complex and unique contributions through performance and discussions that explore music’s role in contemporary culture.

The Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival has adapted to current conditions by switching to an online platform for this year’s events. UCMF believes that even in uncertain times, Ukrainian music must be heard and supported, and Ukrainian performers and composers must be given the opportunity to be showcased to a wider audience. UCMF proudly plays its integral part in cultural diplomacy on behalf of Ukraine.

Featured events include:

Voices of the New Millennium [musae.me]
Friday, March 5 at 7:00pm EST
Streamed from Ukrainian Museum in NYC
All written since the year 2000, the music featured in our opening concert includes works from Ukraine’s youngest generation of composers as well as compositions by established Ukrainian composers Victoria Poleva and Oleh Bezborodko.

Curating the Music Festival: Approaches to New Repertoires
Saturday, March 6 at 12:00pm EST
A live discussion on Zoom with Liubov Morozova (Artistic Director of Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Music Program Curator of Bouquet Kyiv Music Festival) and Christopher Gibbs (Ottaway Professor of Music at Bard College, Co-Artistic Director of the Bard Music Festival)

The Kyiv Avant-Garde [musae.me]
Saturday, March 6 at 7:30pm EST
Streamed from Kaufman Music Center, Merkin Hall
This concert will showcase pivotable works of the Kyiv Avant-Garde, also known as the Sixtiers or shistdesyatnyky. Peter Schmelz will introduce the performance with a pre-concert talk about this exciting period of creativity.

Electroacoustic Voices [musae.me]
Sunday, March 7 at 2:30pm EST
Streamed from DiMenna Center, Cary Hall

Ukraine’s foremost composer of electronic music, Alla Zahaykevych, will introduce a concert of electro-acoustic works by Ukrainian composers.

Please visit the official Festival website for more information: ucmfnyc.com [ucmfnyc.com].

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