From August 14 to 17, 2025, the eighth annual high art festival Bouquet Kyiv Stage will take place at Saint Sophia Cathedral of Kyiv. This was announced by the festival organizers in a press release.
The festival will traditionally unite music, Ukrainian visual art, cinema, theater, excursions, children’s programs, and conversations under the Ash tree. The festival’s overarching theme, ‘The Heart of Europe Beats in Ukraine,’ resonates with our current reality — the uniting of Europe around Ukraine in a shared struggle for the light.
'Ukraine has always been and will remain part of Europe! For the entire civilized world, Europe has been the center of humanism, freedom, and dignity. In the battle of epochs, civilizations, past and future, European values have found their last bastion. Today, the heart of Europe beats here, in Ukraine, in Kyiv, in Saint Sophia Cathedral. Ukraine is the heart of Europe,’ says Yevheniy Utkin, co-founder of the festival.
Over the four festival days, more than 40 artistic events will take place.
Among the festival events:
The art exhibition ‘Ukraine — the Last Outpost of Light,’ featuring works by 28 Ukrainian artists,
The Ukrainian-British exhibition project ‘Flowers from the Frontline,’ which includes a herbarium presented as a gift to the festival from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
The photo exhibition by Serhiy Mykhalchuk ‘Capable’,
The research and cultural project ‘Liberated Music,’ presenting works by repressed Ukrainian composers,
The choral premiere of the program Manifest by composer Roman Hryhoriv, performed by the Kyiv Chamber Choir under the direction of conductor Mykola Hobdych,
The Ukrainian premiere of Alla Zahaykevych’s program ‘Songs of Odysseus’ for bells and electronics,
KinoBouquet: pre-premiere screenings of Ukrainian cinema,
Kobzar Glade — performances by kobzars from all over Ukraine,
Panel discussions: ‘Cultural Genocide,’ ‘Development of Cultural Diplomacy.’
Among the foreign participants at this year’s festival are the stellar Norwegian duo of pianist Øystein Sevåg and guitarist Lakki Patey, Polish virtuoso pianist Mateusz Krzyżowski, Israeli jazz band Amit Friedman Quartet, Georgian conductor and composer Nikoloz Rachveli, Polish conductor Vincent Kozlovsky, and scholar and researcher Philip Norman from London’s Garden Museum. Also featured are star Ukrainian and international performers, whose names remain a surprise for now.
The festival’s theme, ‘The Heart of Europe Beats in Ukraine,’ will permeate every day and every event of the program, reaffirming Ukrainian culture as an integral part of Europe’s cultural heritage.
‘When we speak of European civilization, first and foremost, we mean democratic and universal human values—the heart that gives it life. And today, this heart beats in Ukraine, a European country that stands as a bastion in the existential battle between two worlds—civilization and barbarism, democracy and dictatorship, Light and darkness. This heart is wounded, it bleeds, but it lives—vital, passionate, and true. As long as the heart of Ukraine beats, European civilization exists,’ says Iryna Budanska, co-founder of the festival.