Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival 2025 to Take Place in March

On the 20th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Day of Dignity and Freedom - New York, NY - The Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival (UCMF) announces its 2025 Festival "Letters and Notes," an exploration of Ukrainian music and world literature. Under the direction of its founder, musicologist Dr. Leah Batstone, UCMF 2025 comprises three concert programs at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City, March 13-15, 2025.

Celebrating its sixth season, UCMF 2025 "Letters and Notes" is inspired by Ukraine's rich literary tradition, Ukrainian and North American composers influenced by both Ukrainian and world literature. The 2025 Festival will feature works by 20 Ukrainian composers, including eight new to the UCMF roster. In honor of his 90th birthday, Leonid Hrabovsky is the 2025 Composer-in-Residence, and each concert will feature one of his compositions. Performers will include New York-based experimental new music ensembles TAK, PinkNoise, and The Rhythm Method, as well as Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Diana Ziabchenko, bandurist-soprano Teryn Kytasty-Kuzma, and the Ukrainian Music Initiative. A complete list of programs and performers appears below.

UCMF acknowledges that culture remains at the heart of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine. At the end of May 2024, just weeks ahead of the famous International Book Arsenal Festival (IBAF) in Kyiv, Russia launched a missile that destroyed Ukraine's largest book publisher, Factor Druk in Kharkiv.

UCMF Founder & Creative Director, Dr. Leah Batstone, was in Ukraine at the time and attended the IBAF only days later, where damaged books from the factory were put on display. "You could smell the charred paper," says Batstone. "It was a powerful, visceral glimpse of Russia's attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture. Given Ukrainian music's strong links to the Ukrainian word, we knew we needed to use our Festival to celebrate and highlight Ukrainian writers as well. We are very proud to work with some of the most talented musicians in both New York and Ukraine to present this music with intense artistry and passion."

The opening concert on Thursday, March 13, 2025 Fantastyka (Ukrainian Sci-Fi) with TAK ensemble explores the intergalactic genre at the crossroads of musical composition. TAK said: "This concert is going to be action-packed and full of incredible textures, explorations, and stories. We're thrilled to present a world premiere from Solomiya Moroz, departing from Volodymyr Vynnychenko's Sun Machine, which will feature plants, video scores, and so much more. We're also honored to be celebrating renown Ukrainian composer, Leonid Hrabovksy's 90th Birthday with a newly recomposed arrangement of And it will be - with words by Ukrainian poet Mykola Vorobiov - for the full TAK ensemble instrumentation plus piano. And, we can't wait to perform a new, and unique for UCMF, version of Taylor Brook's sci-fi masterpiece, Star Maker Fragments, which takes listeners on an interplanetary journey via narration from Olaf Stapledon's 1937 classic."

The Festival continues on Friday, March 14, 2025 with From Kontraktova Square, a salon evening featuring Ukrainian Art Song from the early 20th century to the present along with string quartets paired with poetry readings. The evening is a reimagining of Kyiv's 19th century music and poetry salon, which was housed in The Contracts Building (Kontraktovy Budynok) on Kontraktova Square. Originally intended as a "contracts house," the building was not exclusively used for this purpose; at night, it transformed into a performance space and hosted renowned literary figures, including writer Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol and poet Taras Shevchenko.

The salon features performances by The Rhythm Method, soprano-bandurist Teryn Kytasty-Kuzma, and Kyiv-based mezzo-soprano Diana Ziabchenko. Highlights include the U.S. Premiere of Valentyn Kostenko's String Quartet No. 2 dedicated to Vasyl Ellan-Blakytny; Lesia Dychko's "On the Boat" after Ukrainian national poet Lesia Ukrainka arranged for voice and bandura; Victoria Polevá's "Dover Beach" after Matthew Arnold; Leonid Hrabovsky's "Pastels" after Pavlo Tychyna; and Valentyn Sylvestrov's "Farewell" after John Keats.

The Festival concludes on Saturday, March 15, 2025 with Ukrainian Tone Poems, a series of instrumental compositions inspired by both Ukrainian and American literature. New York-based electroacoustic chamber ensemble PinkNoise headlines the program alongside musicians from the newly-founded Ukrainian Music Initiative. The program will feature seven U.S. Premieres: Adrian Mocanu's Les chevaux de feu, based on the Ukrainian classic novel Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Mykola Kotsiubynsky; Alla Zahaykevych's TERCET for clarinet, violin, and cello, after Taras Prokhasko's Necropolis; Alisa Zaika's "he only dreamed of places now..." inspired by Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea; Yurii Pikush's Be a Cycle after T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land; Renata Sokachyk's The Desert Breathes, inspired by Lesia Ukrainka;Lena Sierova's The Last Leaf (2010-11), after the short story by O. Henry; and Leonid Hrabovsky's Bucolic Strophes for organ, after Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol's The Eve of Ivan Kupala. The program also includes the world premiere of Alex Voytenko's Homo Fugens (Running Man), inspired by Stephen King's novel.

UCMF 2025 is co-presented by the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv, UCMF's partner since its inception. The Festival is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union, and the Self Reliance Federal Credit Union of Philadelphia. It is grateful for the support of community partners including New York University (NYU), the CUNY Graduate Center, Hunter College, and the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

Tickets start at $35 and pay-what-you-can tickets are available for students and military veterans with valid ID. More info at Eventbrite.

More details about the stylish post-concert event UCMF Afterdark will be announced at a later date.

For a preview of the season, listen to the UCMF 2025 Composer Playlist on Spotify.
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UCMF 2025 Concert Listings

Fantastyka (Ukrainian Sci-Fi) with TAK ensemble

March 13, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
The DiMenna Center, 450 W. 37th St, New York, NY 10018

Performers include: TAK ensemble

Leonid HRABOVSKY (1935-): And it will be (words by Mykola Vorobiov)***
Taylor BROOK (1985-): Star Maker Fragments (words by Olaf Stapledon)***
Solomiya MOROZ (1981-): World Premiere commission TBA*

From Kontraktova Square
March 14, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
The DiMenna Center, 450 W. 37th St, New York, NY 10018

Performers include: The Rhythm Method, Teryn Kytasty-Kuzma, Diana Ziabchenko, Hans Tashjian

Lesia DYCHKO (1939-), "On the boat" after Lesia Ukrainka, with bandura
Svyatoslav LUNYOV (1964-), Excerpts from the Song Cycle to Ukrainian Poets**
Valentyn KOSTENKO (1895-1960), String Quartet No. 2, II. Andante quasi Allegretto (1929), dedicated to Vasyl Ellan-Blakytny**
Stefania TURKEVYCH (1898-1977), "Time Passes" after Taras Shevchenko
Borys LIATOSHYNSKY (1895-1968), Three Songs after Heinrich Heine
Katya SUHLOBINA (1991-), "In Memoriam" for string quartet on motives from Serhiy Zhadan**
Yuri ISHCHENKO (1938-2021), "Night shadows" after Mykhailo Semenko
Yuri POVOLOTSKY (1962-), Three Romances on Poems by Lina Kostenko
Leonid HRABOVSKY (1935-), "Pastels" after Pavlo Tychyna**
Victoria POLEVÁ (1962-), "Dover Beach" after Matthew Arnold**
Boris LOGINOV (1990-), "The Way" after Mykola Khvylovy**
Valentyn SYLVESTROV (1937-), "Farewell" after John Keats

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Ukrainian Tone Poems

March 15, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
The DiMenna Center, 450 W. 37th St, New York, NY 10018

Performers include: PinkNoise, Ukrainian Music Initiative

Leonid HRABOVSKY (1935-), Bucolic Strophes for organ (1975)**
Inspired by "The Eve of Ivan Kupala" by Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol

Adrian MOCANU (1989-), Les chevaux de feu (2022)**
Inspired by Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky

Alla ZAHAYKEVYCH (1966-), TERCET for clarinet, violin, and cello (2010)**
Inspired by Taras Prokhasko's Necropolis

Alex VOYTENKO (1981-): Homo Fugens (Running Man)*
After the novel by Stephen King

Renata SOKACHYK (1991-), The Desert Breathes (2024)**
Inspired by Lesia Ukrainka

Alisa ZAIKA (2001-). "he only dreamed of places now..." (2022)**
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea

Lena SIEROVA (1981-), The Last Leaf (2010-11)**
After the short story by O. Henry

Yurii PIKUSH (1998-), Be a Cycle (2023)**
Inspired by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land

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*world premiere
**U.S. premiere
***new arrangement

***Please note that all programs are subject to change.***