On 8 January, at the Kyiv cultural centre Pechersk Palace, the National House of Music will present the concert Warm Christmas, featuring little-known carols and shchedrivky from eastern Ukraine — ancient Christmas songs from the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in contemporary arrangements by composer Yevhen Petrychenko.
The programme’s musical material was collected by folklorist Olena Tyurikova, who conducted field research between 1990 and 2008 in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.
The soloists of Warm Christmas will include Dima Libra and Anzhelika Rudnytska, as well as performers from the National House of Music (Olesya Lyuba, Nataliya Khmilevska, Olena Tsyhankova, Vladyslava Pryymachuk, Roman Melish, Oleh Dudnychenko) and pupils of Kyiv Children’s Music School No. 39. They will be accompanied by the Liatoshynskyi Capella orchestra under the baton of conductor Roman Budzyak.
The concert’s traditional ritual calendar songs present both pre-Christian and Christian works, spanning narratives from the creation of the world to biblical times. The programme includes: Miraculous miracle as birth is (Oy, dyvnoye narodzhene), 'Across the Little Hill' (Cherez horonku), 'Oh, on the River Jordan' (Oy, na richtsi, na Ordani), 'In the Field, in the Field' (U poli, u poli), 'And the Virgin Mary' (A deva Mariya), 'Oh, the Steep Mountain Rustled' (Oy, zashumila krutaya hora), 'Jesus Christ Sat Down to Supper' (Siv Sus Khrystos vecheriaty), 'Wondrous News' (Dyvnaya novyna), 'Oh, at Master Ivan’s' (Oy, u pana Yvana), 'Oh, at the Master’s' (Oy, v pana, v pana), and others."
The event is supported by the State Agency for the Promotion of Culture of Ukraine.
The ‘Territories of Culture’ project is produced in partnership with Persha Pryvatna Brovarnya and is dedicated to exploring the history and transformation of Ukrainian cultural identity.