⚡️ March 1, 6 pm – VERE MUSIC HUB (Kyiv, Malopidvalna St., 21/8). Registration of listeners: https://forms.gle/J7f8T2e6NBjCrrLM6.
Viktoria Vitrenko and Ukho Music announce the release of their double vinyl album LIMBO on Kyiv Dispatch, a new Ukrainian label of experimental music! The album features vocal cycles by Agata Zubel, Alla Zahaikevych, Ying Wang, and Sven-Ingo Koch, as well as fragments of a cycle by Maksym Shalyhin, commissioned by Viktoria Vitrenko.
A lecture by singer Viktoria Vitrenko (with the participation of composer Alla Zahaikevych), in which she will perform fragments of the material, explain the logic of the works, and demonstrate some of the vocal techniques used in them. Fragments of the audiovisual installation Limbo, created by the singer together with RADAR studio, will also be presented.
About the project:
Limbo’s album was released on February 17 in a limited edition of 500 copies, the digital release will be available on all streaming platforms on March 27.
LIMBO is a vocal journey through uncertainty, and at the same time a deeply personal project. Conceived by Viktoria Vitrenko and developed in collaboration with the Eclat Festival, it explores the state of waiting – in its more general, poetic dimension, and in its unbearably concrete manifestations. Almost all of the music on the album was created at the end of 2021 and is dedicated to flutist Mariia Kaliesnikava, who is serving an eleven-year sentence in Belarus for her role in organizing the 2020 protests. The vocal cycles by Agata Zubel, Alla Zahaikevych, Ying Wang, and Sven-Ingo Koch, as well as fragments of Maksym Shalyhin’s 2009-2012 cycle, commissioned by Viktoria Vitrenko, immerse us in the atmosphere of transit, borderline states, and focus on those who are stuck between worlds.
The uncertainty about Mariia’s future, the experience of pandemic isolation, and the rising tension on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine were the context from which the performance project LIMBO was based, first shown in Stuttgart in early February 2022; the album, however, was recorded in the summer of 2022 near Kyiv, during the invasion, which significantly recontextualized the material.
The total duration of LIMBO is 100 minutes, and it is a solo program for a singer who accompanies herself on the piano. In Agata Zubel’s cycle, the piano is dissected, and in Ying Wang’s work, electronics are added to the voice and keys. The album was produced by sound engineers Herman Safonov (recording and editing, Muzychi Records) and Rashad Becker (mixing and mastering, Studio Clunk), with visuals by Olena Subach and design by Dasha Podoltseva. The release was produced by Sasha Andrusyk (Ukho/Kyiv Dispatch) and Viktoria Vitrenko.
“In LIMBO, I go through intermediate states – physical and emotional – and try to translate them with the help of various vocal techniques, including extended ones. The timbre-dark songs of Zubel, sung with the mouth closed, as if the voice still needs to be caught; Zahaikevych’s light whisper or Sprechgesang, which suddenly turns into Ukrainian traditional singing; the aesthetics of bel canto and chanson from Koch’s macabre songs; the detachment and ethereality of the voice, which gradually dissolves in the air – Shalygin’s – this is the journey,” the singer comments.
On the occasion of the album’s release, performative lectures will be held in Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Kyiv, where she will perform fragments of the material, explain the logic of the pieces, and demonstrate some of the vocal techniques used in them. Fragments of the audiovisual installation Limbo, created by the singer together with RADAR studio, will also be presented.
On the occasion of the album’s release, presentations of the album Limbo / performative lectures by Viktoria Vitrenko will take place in Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Kyiv:
February 17, 4 pm in Lviv at Jam Factory Art Center.
The meeting will be held as part of the opening of the COURSE. Composer Alla Zahaikevych will also take part in the program. Free admission.
February 19, 7 pm in Kharkiv, Art Area culture center. Free donation.
February 22, 5 pm in Odesa, Odesa National Art Museum. Free admission.
February 23, 5 pm in Dnipro, DCCC, Free admission: pre-registration.
March 1, 6 pm in Kyiv, VERE MUSIC HUB, Entrance by invitation only: registration via the link https://forms.gle/J7f8T2e6NBjCrrLM6.
The project is implemented with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine and in cooperation with the Lviv National Philharmonic, Jam Factory Art Center, Center for Contemporary Culture in Dnipro, Odesa National Art Museum, VERE MUSIC FUND, and Art Area culture center.
The music was created with the support of Musik der Jahrhunderte/ECLAT Festival, realized with the financial support of Musikfonds e.V. The recording and production were funded by the scholarship program NEUSTART KULTUR from Deutscher Musikrat, Projektfonds Ukraine 2023 (an initiative of the Goethe-Institut with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office to strengthen the sustainability of Ukrainian cultural and educational partners), and the special program Podium Gegenwart InSzene Vokal.
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Viktoria Vitrenko / www.viktoriia-vitrenko.com is a Ukrainian singer, conductor, and co-founder of the interdisciplinary group INTERAKT. Winner of the Michiko Hirayama Prize 2023, resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and Akademie Schloss Solitude in Sturgart. Vitrenko has recorded for SONY Classical (music by Valentyn Silvestrov) and AUDITE (chamber music by György Kurtág), Limbo is her debut solo release.
Kyiv Dispatch / www.kyivdispat.ch is a record label working with contemporary classical, improvisational and experimental music. In addition to traditional recordings, the label explores innovative formats such as audio documentaries and spoken word projects. Kuiv Dispatch was founded in 2022 at the initiative of the Ukrainian Music Agency to document and amplify the voices of Ukrainian composers and performers.
VERE MUSIC HUB is an artistic ecosystem and creative space designed for young musicians and listeners, established by the VERE MUSIC FUND. The hub features an upper hall with 100 seats, ideal for concerts, recordings, masterclasses, lectures, and more, as well as a lower rehearsal hall. It is located at 21/8 Malopidvalna Street, Kyiv.
VERE MUSIC FUND
Founded in 2017 by Tetiana Verevska, the VERE MUSIC FUND is a charitable organization that provides grants to Ukrainian musicians, enabling them to participate in international competitions and masterclasses. The Fund also organizes festival projects, educational initiatives, and supports international music competitions held in Ukraine.