Wintersongs with Kitka on December 14 at St. Bede’s Church
Kitka’s 25th annual Wintersongs concert series celebrates the much-anticipated release of Kolo, a new album on Kitka’s own independent Diaphonica label. The performance takes place on Sunday, December 14, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church,
2650 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park.
Tickets priced from $27.50 to $55.00 can be purchased online in advance.
A Proto-Balto-Slavic root word, kolo 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. This lovingly curated collection of traditional and newly imagined songs from Bulgaria, Corsica, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine invites listeners into Kitka’s kolo, a place where giving voice and deep listening revolve in a timeless dance of dissonance and harmony.
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 Mystere des Voix Bulgares to Meredith Monk.
Currently celebrating its 45th 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.
