Ukrainian Diplomacy and Musical Creation 2014–2024

This conference is a part of the joint TANDEM research project “A Subaltern That Sings: From Sound Resistance to Musical Diplomacy in Wartime Ukraine” by Dr Valeria Korablyova and Dr Louisa Martin-Chevalier is dedicated to the musical dimension of Ukrainian resistance as a vehicle for escaping the subaltern position of a double periphery in the blind spot between the EU and Russia. 

Date: 27-29 November, 2024
Place: CEFRES, Na Florenci 3, Praha 1 and online (get the link, mail to cefres@cefres.cz=
Language: English

Program 

27 November 2024

9:00 | Welcome addresses 

  • HE Vasyl Zvarytch, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Czech Republic 
  • HE Stéphane Crouzat, Ambassador of France to the Czech Republic

9:45-10:00 – Coffee break

10:00-11:30 – Keynote speechWildness Revisited: Paradigms of Musical Representation in and of Ukraine”, Maria Sonevytsky (Bard College, USA)

Chairs – Valeria Korablyova (Charles University), Louisa Martin-Chevalier (Sorbonne Université)

11:30-12:00 – Coffee break

12:00-13:00 – Session 1: “The rising soft power of the Ukrainian musical scene“, Chair: Eliska Tomalova (Charles University)

Renata Suchowiejko (Jagiellonian University, Faculty of History, Institute of Musicology) “Music as a Soft Power Tool in Times of Crisis: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives”

Olga Zaitseva-Herz (University of Alberta): “Brutal Battles of Soft Power: Music on the Global Stage in Russia’s War on Ukraine”

13:00-14:30 – Lunch break

14:30-16:00 – Session 2: “From Maidan to the War: Mapping Ukraine through Its Musics”, Chair Denis Laborde (CNRS-CMB)

Liubov Morozova (Ukrainian Institute), “The musical world of Maidan: a look in 10 years”

Anna Glew (University of Liverpool): “Ukrainian popular music after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion: narrating Ukraine and its place on the map”

Ioan Suhov (Dublin City University) “GéoRécits : Cartographier l’exil des artistes à travers une base de données collaborative en ligne”

16:00-16:30 – Coffee break

16:30-18:00 – Session 3: “Wartime musical production: tackling political issues”, Chair:  Théodora Psychoyou (Sorbonne University)

Iryna Shuvalova (University of Oslo) : “Ukrainian popular music as a space for queer solidarity during wartime”

Oksana Nesterenko (Jordan Center, New York University): “Exposing Ecocide: Musical Diplomacy of Roman Grygoriv and Illia Razumeiko” (on-line)

Sofia Nyblom (Uppsala University), “Staging loss, embоdying the future: Ukrainian artists making sense of the Kakhovka disaster”

18:00-18:30 – Coffee break

18:30-19:30 – Plenary Roundtable “Ukraine’s musical diplomacy: various national contexts”

Chairs – Valeria Korablyova (Charles University), Louisa Martin-Chevalier (Sorbonne Université) ;

Speakers: Birgit Ellinghaus (musical manager), Denis Laborde (CNRS, CMB), Liubov Morozova (Ukrainian Institute), Anna Stavychenko (Philharmonie de Paris), Oleksandra Saienko (UStream, Vienna)?

28 November 2024

09:00-09:30 – morning coffee

09:30-10:30 – Session 4, “Musical Diplomacy and Regional Solidarity”, Chair (to be confirmed)

Elsa Tulmets (Centre Marc Bloch) “The Baltic States’ support to Ukrainian musical diplomacy: building on a long resistance and resilience tradition”

Tereza Havelková (Charles University): “The Czech and Ukrainian Musical Responses to the Threat to National Sovereignty: A Decolonial Perspective”

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:45 – Musical performances: Contemporary Ukrainian composers

Alisa Zaika: “Words through music: focusing on Ukraine’s Executed Renaissance”

Yana Shliabanska: “The Idea of Play in Musical Composition”

12:45-13:45 – Lunch

13:45-15:15 – Session 5: Gender, migration, and memory in musical production, Chair: Hyacinthe Ravet (Sorbonne University)

Carolin Stahrenberg (Anton Bruckner Private University, Linz): “Music – Gender – Migration: Historiographic perspectives on gendered migratory paths and musical contexts”

Marcin Bogucki (University of Warsaw): “Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra: Shifiting paradigms of politics and classical music”

Olha Haidamachuk (Prisma Ukraїna, National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”) “A song as a musical key to memory”

15:15-15:30 Coffee break

15:30-17:00 – Session 6: “Musical dimension of Ukrainian resistance”, Chair: Anja Bunzel (Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences)

Oksana Starshova (Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, Mykolaiv), Polina Myronenko (Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts): “The Power of Popular Music in Wartime Ukraine”

Iryna Tukova (National Music Academy of Ukraine) “Resistance Through Art Music: The Ukrainian Case”

Lidia Melnyk (Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy) “Let there be light by Bohdana Frolyak: from work to message”

17:00-17:30 – Coffee break

17:30-18:30 – Musical performances: Contemporary Ukrainian composers

Anna Arkushyna: “Voice as part of a body in a vocal composition (“…au ciel enflammé” for soprano and electronics)”

18:30-19:30 – Apero (CEFRES)

20:00 – Screening, Soldiers of Song, directed by Ryan Smith (2024)

29 November 2024

9:30-10:30 – Musical performances: Contemporary Ukrainian composers

Katarina Gryvul: “The timbre approach in music: a pathway to mine distinct voice”

10:30-11:00 – Coffee break

11:00-12:00 – Musical performances: Contemporary Ukrainian composers

Alisa Kobzar: “Compositional tools and creative output – composer’s perspective ”

12:00-13:30 – Lunch

13:30-14:15 – Musical performances: Contemporary Ukrainian composers

Olga Zaitseva-Herz: “Vocal and Instrumental Improvisation in Live Performance of a Composition as a Method of Facilitating Spontaneity and Deep Responsiveness in Artistic Expression“

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

15:30-17:00 – Final discussion and perspectives