The Bouquet Kyiv Stage Festival is a centrepiece of cultural life in Kyiv every summer and 2022 was no exception. The Festival took place on a more limited scale than usual but with great resonance and beauty in the magnificent setting of the eleventh-century Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom (Svyata Sofiya), a building which itself reflects Ukraine’s history and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This year the Festival not only continued to be celebrated in Kyiv but is taking place outside Ukraine for the first time, in Oxford from 28 September to 1 October. 

The Bouquet Kyiv Stage Festival coming from Kyiv to Oxford on this occasion, takes place as a part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture devised jointly by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute, giving voice to Ukrainian creatives and focusing on the changing needs and priorities of the Ukrainian cultural sector, and also opens the Ukrainian Culture Weeks 2022 initiative that was launched by Cherwell College Oxford, Oxford University Ukrainian Society, and Ukrainian Cultural Centre Dom Master Klass with the aim of supporting Ukrainian culture and heritage.

The city of Oxford is an extraordinary and meaningful place to celebrate the festival. Oxford is the city of knowledge and free speech, the place where democratic human values have originated as well as have been declared and brought to life. These are the values Ukraine is fighting for today.

Bouquet Kyiv Stage Festival will take place at the following Oxford venues:  The Sheldonian Theatre, Christ Church Cathedral, Holywell Music Room (Wadham College), the Levine Building (Trinity College), and Oxford Town Hall.

UK/Ukraine Season and Ukrainian Culture Weeks 2022 are proud to collaborate with Bouquet Kyiv Stage, in presenting a rich and varied programme of Ukrainian music. The festival’s highlight will be the celebration of the renowned Ukrainian Maestro Valentyn Sylvestrov, Ukraine’s best-known living composer, marking his 85th birthday with us in Oxford in person on September 30. Valentyn Sylvestrov will be an honoured guest of the festival, and his choral and piano works will be featured in the programme. 

The festival programme includes:

7 concerts of classical music among them:

• September 28, the opening concert, music of Valentin Sylvestrov performed by the Kyiv Chamber Choir.
• 30th September, the British choir Apollo5 will perform two world music premieres of Ukrainian composers Victoria Poleva and Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska.
• 30th September The Grand Concert of the Orchestra of St John’s, conducted by John Lubbock at one of the most celebrated venues in Oxford – the Sheldonian Theatre. The Kyiv Chamber Choir and Ukrainian leading violinist Bohdana Pivnenko will join the Orchestra of St John’s for the Grand Concert.
• Exhibition “War” from the documentary photographer Oleksandr Glyadelov’s work. Photographs were taken by the artist in Irpin, Bucha, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and other ruined cities of Ukraine. Glyadelov’s works have been featured on the world’s leading publications and media covers.
• Visual music performance celebrating the renowned Ukrainian artist Maria Primachenko. Ukrainian museum with the collection of Maria Primachenko’s masterpieces was burnt down by Russian occupants in February 2022.
• “Face the Future” is a music performance staged by the innovative Ukrainian fashion designer Fedir Vozianov
• Key speaker at the Public Talks lecture series will be Nelia Kykovalska, the General Director of Ukraine’s main museum complex and the UNESCO World Heritage Site: St.Sophia of Kyiv National Reserve.

PROCEEDS FROM EVENT TICKETS WILL HELP SUPPORT HUMANITARIAN INITIATIVES IN UKRAINE. 

The Full programme is displayed at https://www.cherwell-college.co.uk/events .

Ticket prices: £10-£40, free for Ukrainian refugees. 

Various events in Oxford city centre.

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