"Carols of Birds, Bells, and Peace from Ukraine" Lecture

Carols of Birds, Bells, and Peace from Ukraine: Music for Celebration and Cultural Understanding – A lecture with Marika Kuzma

Wednesday, November 12th

6:00 – 7:00 PM

Lecture in Harrison Room

Free

Ukraine’s abundant heritage of singing includes thousands of carols that stem from ancient culture that is nevertheless new to world audiences. In this evening gathering, Ukrainian-American conductor and scholar Marika Kuzma will offer the audience six varied and vibrant carols. She will include the internationally celebrated “Carol of the Bells,” which in its original version is not about bells but about a bird that calls out a song of gratitude, and she will include the song that Ukrainians call their bell carol along with several meditative carols.  The audience will hear the carols as sung by Marika Kuzma’s chamber chorus in their new recording. Kuzma will also share the stories behind each carol: historical context, biographies of composers, explanations of winter rituals. These carols often carry gripping narratives of a unique choral activism that has helped Ukraine, its language, and its people to survive. Their messages can inspire all of us today as we grapple with our changing world.

Marika Kuzma has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as a conductor, choral music historian, and actor. A Professor Emerita of Music at the University of California Berkeley, she led its choirs from 1990 to 2016 in music from ancient chant to works like the Bach B minor Mass, Britten War Requiem, and premieres of new works.  As a chorus master, she has collaborated with artists including Gustavo Dudamel, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, and Paul Winter. In 2024, she prepared choirs for Maestra Keri-Lynn Wilson in concerts at Zankel Hall/Carnegie Hall, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and at the Kennedy Center with the Kyiv Camerata and with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. As a scholar, she has published articles in the Journal of Musicology, Choral Journal, Musik und Kirche, among others. Her critical edition of Bortniansky’s choral concertos, recording of his concertos with Ensemble Cherubim, and her new book Carols of Birds, Bells, and Sacred Hymns from Ukraine have become key resources for choral musicians internationally.