The Basel Sinfonietta will begin a multi-year collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute in the 2026/27 season.
The collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute sheds light on the work of persecuted Ukrainian composers from the Soviet era and offers young Ukrainian composers an international platform. The partnership will span five seasons and significantly influence the Basel Sinfonietta's programming from 2026 to 2031. In doing so, the Basel Sinfonietta addresses the responsibility of artists in times when solidarity is not a given and underscores the importance of artistic creation and sharing: for during persecution and amidst war and conflict, art can be not only expression, but also resistance, solace, and a bridge.
The concert series "Ukraine and Europe" for the 2026/27 season marks the musical inauguration of this collaboration. The focus is on Stefania Turkevych, arguably the first Ukrainian female composer, and her symphonic poem "La Vita" (1965). Turkevych lived from 1898 to 1977, studied in Berlin with Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith, wrote more than one hundred works – and was almost erased from music history. After fleeing the Soviet regime to the West following World War II, her music remained banned in Soviet Ukraine for a long time. The contemporary counterpart to Turkevych is the Ukrainian composer Anna Korsun. Her work "In Another Space" for orchestra and smartphones from 2016 conveys the experience of simultaneous proximity and distance – being in one place and perceiving something that seemingly belongs elsewhere.
For the 2027/28 season, performances of works by the Ukrainian composers Alla Zagaykevych and Katarina Gryvul are planned. The focus of the 2028/29 season will be an open call for submissions from young Ukrainian composers with an existing work. The Ukrainian Institute and Titus Engel, Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta, together with the Sinfonietta's program committee, will select the works to be performed by the orchestra.
K3 - Ukraine and Europe
