Kaufman Music Center Presents The Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival

The festival returns to honor Ukrainian music extraordinaire Borys Liatoshynsky, alongside works by Copland, Berg, and Bartók from March 17–19, 2023

Created in 2020 and led by American musicologist Leah Batstone, the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival (UCMF) is the only music festival in America showcasing modern Ukrainian music. The event provides professional and emerging Ukrainian composers opportunities for their works to be known and performed. 

Held at its home in New York City’s Kaufman Music Center, the three UCMF concerts will take place at Merkin Hall and include several U.S. premieres. The Festival’s 2023 edition reaffirms its commitment to the preservation of Ukraine’s musical history as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second year. 

Titled a “A Tribute to Borys Liatoshynsky,” the UCMF will honor the “father” of Ukrainian contemporary music. Borys Liatoshynsky was one of Ukraine’s key pedagogues, training generations of composers at Kyiv’s National Music Academy of Ukraine in the early 20th century. 

The opening night on March 17, titled “Inspirations,” will introduce Liatoshynsky’s music with his violin sonata and works for piano and viola. Music by his students Valentyn Sylvestrov and Volodymyr Zahorstev will also be featured and those of his idol Alban Berg.

“Evolutions'” on March 18, will present the trajectory of Ukrainian music after Liatoshynsky’s death in 1968. It will feature music from those in his pedagogical lineage, including Serhii Vilka, Alex Voytenko, Andrii Didorenko, Anna Arkushyna, Olena Ilnytska, and Yana Shliabanska.

On March 19, the closing “Conversations” concert will highlight Liatoshynsky’s Third and Fourth String Quartets, Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3, and Copland’s Sextet — the latter two works included to highlight similarities between Liatoshynsky and his contemporaries in the West. Bartók shared his interests in national music, while Copland’s career took similar routes to his own.

Tickets are available here or by contacting the Kaufman Music Center at (212) 501-3330. 

The concerts will be performed by New York’s Unheard-of Ensemble, Talujon, and the Bergamot Quartet. Ukrainian artists include DUO SAS, Solomiya Ivakhiv, Vladyslav Dovhan, Andrii Didorenko, Valeriya Sholokhova, and the Shelest Piano Duo. Ukrainian locals who have been performing benefit concerts for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War, will also be featured.

Born in Zhytomyr in 1895, Liatoshynsky was part of the first cohort of students at the newly opened Kyiv Conservatory, where he studied with composer Reinhold Gliere. Later, he taught members of the “Kyiv Avant-Garde,” a generation of dissident composers against the dogmas of Socialist Realism. Liatoshynsky’s music has a range of genres and styles — from atonal experiments to symphonies and operas.