KITKA
Wintersongs: Comfort & Joy
Shira Cion, Executive Artistic Director
Kelly Atkins, Music Director
Stacey Barnett, Penina Biddle-Gottesman, Leslie Bonnett, Barbara Byers, Alex Ianchenko, Erin Lashnits Herman, Elizabeth Setzer, Talia Young-Skeen, and Abi Tenenbaum
Acclaimed women’s vocal ensemble Kitka returns to Old First Concerts for its annual Wintersongs concerts. This year’s program is a tribute to the power of music to bring comfort and joy during the darkest days of the year. Showcasing seasonal music from a wide variety of Eastern European ethnic and spiritual traditions, the repertoire ranges from rousing Slavic folk carols to lush meditative Eastern Orthodox sacred choral works; from Baltic pagan incantations for the return of the Sun Goddess to Caucasus Georgian alilos (hallelujahs); from Yiddish songs to secular Sufi odes; and much more.
“A Kitka concert is a sacred exchange between singer and listener, between the Old World and the New, between spirit and body, the past and present,” says Kitka’s Music Director Kelly Atkins. “We feel the urgency for human connection and healing, and the collection of songs we’ve chosen for this year’s program is designed to answer this call. Audiences will hear timeless favorites from years past as well as many new songs, including one we learned on our most recent tour to the Republic of Georgia from Aznash Lamaan, a group of women from the Kist minority community of Sufis who reside in the region bordering Chechnya.”
Kitka’s Wintersongs concert series is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alameda County Arts Commission. For more information visit kitka.org.
Inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia, Kitka has earned international recognition for its distinctive sound, exploring a vast palette of ancient yet contemporary sounding vocal effects. Kitka’s commitment to presenting traditional song as a living and evolving expressive art form has led to adventurous collaborations with some of the world’s most exciting indigenous musicians and contemporary composers ranging from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares to Meredith Monk. Currently celebrating its 46th season, Kitka began as a grassroots group of amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared a passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, and resonant strength of traditional Eastern European women’s vocal music. Since its informal beginnings, the group has evolved into an award-winning touring ensemble known for its artistry, versatility and mastery of the demanding techniques of regional vocal styling, as well as for its innovative explorations in new music for women’s voices. The ensemble’s wide-ranging performance, teaching and recording activities have exposed millions to the haunting beauty of their unique repertoire.
