KITKA
An evening of Balkan, Baltic, Slavic, and Caucasian songs for the Summer Solstice
Shira Cion, Executive & Artistic Director
Janet Kutulas, Kelly Atkins, Kristine Barrett, Erin Lashnits Herman, Maclovia Quintana, Katya Schoenberg, Stacey Barnett, Charlotte Finegold, Talia Skeen
The women of Kitka are fearless sonic explorers, and their intrepid spirit resonates in every haunting song. For forty-five seasons, this ten-voice ensemble from Oakland, California has cultivated a vast and breathtaking repertoire of traditional and contemporary music from the Balkan, Baltic, Caucasian, Mediterranean, and Slavic lands, alongside original songs inspired by the vocal techniques and sonorities of these regions.
Through decades of travel to rural communities across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Kitka has gathered songs directly from tradition bearers—often elders who are among the last living links to centuries-old collective singing practices. The ensemble’s ravishing vocal textures—at once ethereal and earthy, shimmering and raw—create performances that are both deeply moving and utterly unforgettable.
Kitka’s concert celebrates the summer solstice and the global release of Kolo, the ensemble’s thirteenth album on their own independent Diaphonica label. Derived from a Proto-Balto-Slavic root, kolo means “circle” or “wheel,” and refers to the spiraling communal line dances found across Eastern Europe. The album evokes cosmic cycles of creation, growth, destruction, and renewal—the eternal turning of seasons and the shared rhythms of lives and voices woven together.
Kolo is available in a limited-edition double-vinyl release, on compact disc, and soon via digital download and Dolby Atmos.
“Their power and energy is exotic and exhilarating… showcasing the beauty and vitality of female voices.” – NPR
“Even God stops to listen when Kitka — unamplified, without sets, props, instruments, or even lyrics most people can understand—opens its collective mouth. The sound is so chillingly beautiful, by anyone’s standards, that the entire audience sits enraptured, most of them with eyes shut. My own eyes flooded with tears.” – The Guardian
