Kitka, the acclaimed women’s vocal ensemble now celebrating its 45th anniversary season, joins us once again for their annual WINTERSONGS concert. This year’s concert will feature many of the songs on the ensemble’s long awaited new album, Kolo, which will be released globally next year, but pre-release copies of the album will be available for sale at the performance.
Bookmarked by two winter solstice tunes from Bulgaria, this year’s Wintersongs concert program is a dramatic song cycle of music gathered from across Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia, as well as songs from Balkan, Baltic, Mediterranean and Slavic lands. Kolo – a root word resonant across Balkan, Baltic and Slavic cultures – means circle, wheel and a spiraling communal line dance. It is the cosmic cycle of creation, growth, destruction and renewal; the eternal turning of seasons; and the shared rhythms of lives woven together. For Kitka, the kolo also represents our ever-evolving circle of voices, a close-knit co-creative community of women bound by breath and friendship. This lovingly curated cycle of traditional and newly imagined songs invites listeners into Kitka’s kolo, a place where giving voice and deep listening revolve in a timeless dance of dissonance and harmony.