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Street Ballads Ukraine
A live soundscape with contemporary voices from the Ukraine
Photo: Milad Ahmadvand
Street Ballads
The performance project Street Ballads collects different voices on the present throughout Europe in the form of a live soundscape.
Street Ballads III – Ukraine was performed three times in Zurich in September 2023. This cross-disciplinary performance featured literary contributions by nine Ukrainian authors who live in Switzerland and Ukraine. They commented on the present with the voices of historical or mythological figures. The literary contributions spoke of hope, anger, fear and the desire for peace. The poetic texts evoked powerful images and used the literary to give form to the unspeakable. The ensemble read, spoke, whispered and sang the texts, while this chorus of individual voices came together to form different formations in the space.
The 30-minutes performance was repeated several times as a loop and the audience was free to visit the performance at any time during the event, which lasted two hours.
Soundscape
Street Ballads III - Ukraine is a performative-vocal intervention. The acoustic landscape was presented via narrative fragments, sounds, and voice improvisations. The performance unfolded as a loop over approximately two hours and took place in the audience area of the museums. It was divided into 30-minutes sections that were repeated several times. Soundscapes form a conceptual pivot in the debate around spatial atmospheres in the areas of architecture, theatre and public spaces.
Performance Dates
| 18 September 2023 | 19:00 - 20:30 | Kunsthaus Zurich |
| 25 September 2023 | 14:00 - 15:30 | Toni-Areal / ZHdK |
| 28 September 2023 | 20:00 / 21:30 | Landesmuseum Zurich / LATE |
Artists
Vera Bommer was born in Zug in 1982 and grew up in Ticino. In 2007 she completed her acting studies at the Zurich University of the Arts and was subsequently engaged at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. In addition to guest appearances at the Konzert Theater Bern and the Theater Biel/Solothurn, she was a permanent ensemble member at the Theater Kanton Zürich and most recently at the Schauspielhaus Graz. In 2015 she performed under the direction of Tim Zulauf in Tunis at the Dream City theatre festival. In the SRF TV series "Seitentriebe" directed by Güzin Kar, Vera Bommer can be seen in the role of Nele.
Nikolai Bosshardt completed his acting training at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2011 he received the Premioförderpreis for the play "Nico's Love", developed together with Julian M. Grünthal. In addition to engagements in theatre productions, such as those of the artist group 400asa, Nikolai Bosshardt has appeared in the award-winning internet soap opera "Nerd Perfect" by Patrick Karpizcenko or in feature films such as "Mary & Johnny" and "Der Polder" (both Schwarz/Grünthal) as well as in the multi-award-winning film "Dene wos guet geit" and "Unrueh" by Cyril Schäublin.
Maria Brovarska is from Kyiv and studied art, music and theatre. She plays the piano and the bandura, an instrument similar to the lute that is used in Ukrainian folk music. She is mainly active as a professional vocalist and has won numerous competitions. Currently, she sings in a Ukrainian choir in Zurich besides her studies.
Sarah Brunner trained as an actress both in Switzerland and at the Lee Strasberg Theater &B Film Institute in Los Angeles. Most recently, in addition to several engagements in the film sector, she has appeared in performances at the Zurich Opera House ("Lessons in Love and Violence" directed by Evgeny Titov), the Zurich Schauspielhaus ("Wilhelm Tell" directed by Milo Rau) and in the production "Resistencia" by Colectivo Lastesis at the Theaterspektakel Zurich.
Steven Forster grew up in Zurich and trained at the Zurich Dance Theatre School. He gained his first stage experience at the Zurich Opera House in 2011. He is a member of the Lit Dance Company and the Focus Crew. As a freelance dancer, he has danced in several productions at Zurich Opera House, at the Salzburg Festival and in shows and commissions from companies. In the 2022-23 season he was a member of the dance company of the Theater St.Gallen under the direction of Kinsun Chan.
Ivan Georgiev is a Swiss actor of Bulgarian origin. After studying Psychology and Film Studies at the University of Zurich, he graduated from the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in 2013 with a focus in Physical Theater. He has participated in various stage and film productions. In 2016 he won the Swiss Film Prize for his performance in the film "La vanité" by Lionel Baier. Since 2021 he's an ensemble member of the Theater Bilitz.
Yulianna Khomenko trained as a violinist in Uzhgorod and Kyiv at the National Academy of Music. She is currently specialising in jazz violin at the Winterthur Institute for Contemporary Music. In 2018, she won the prestigious Kyiv Pektoral prize for her musical concept for the play “Louis XIV”. In addition to numerous performances as a musician, she has created compositions in the fields of theatre, film and performance.
Kostya Solo (Kostiantyn Solohub) is a Ukrainian director, choreographer and producer. He has been working in entertainment and show business since 2004. Among other things, he directed the show ballet "Aleko" and the dance studio of the same name. In the course of his career, in collaboration with his artistic team, he implemented numerous show productions, theater performances, club programs and film projects.
Florian Butsch studied at the Ecole International de Théâtre Lassaad in Brussels. In Belgium, he trained in the Vietnamese martial art Trang Si Dao, attended Meisner Acting courses in Berlin, and deepened his clownish craft at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris. In 2011 he founded the street theatre duo Roli and Sepp. In addition to his TV work for SRF, he also appeared in the film "Die fruchtbaren Jahre sind vorbei" by Natascha Beller. Since 2018, he has been working on philosophical children's theatre pieces together with Johannes Dullin and Gregor Schaller.
Sofiya Gakh is a performing artist, professional dancer and actress from Kyiv, Ukraine. She completed her training in Toronto and has been hired for numerous productions in acting, dance and film over the past 10 years. Most recently Sofiya Gakh taught at Dakh Acting School in Kyiv until 2022, performed at various events in Zurich and worked at Tanzhaus Zurich.
Nicola Graf's passion for acting was awakened during a language study trip to Los Angeles, where he specialised in "filmmaking". Enthused by the experience of acting, directing and camera work, he decided to train at the European Film Actor School (EFAS) in Zurich. In addition to appearances in theatre productions such as "Krabat", "God of Carnage", "Absent Friends" or "The Seagull", he has also appeared in numerous commercials and short films as well as music videos.
Viktoria Mytsyk is a Ukrainian actress who grew up in Donetsk. She trained at the Donetsk State University of Culture and the National University of Culture and Arts in Kyiv. She specialised in vaudeville, circus and theatre. In Zurich, she is engaged at the Purpur Theatre, among others.
Yelyzaveta Timashkova grew up in Ukraine and completed a training programme in choreography at the University of Culture (KUC) in Kyiv from 2019-2023, in addition to studying law. She holds a diploma to teach art and dance to children. She has also worked as a group coach (KachalkaMix) as well as a dance teacher (Ruda Vorona) and is the 2022 Swiss Junior Powerlifting record holder in the "Women 57" class.
Denis Diachenko is from Kyiv. He has been active in ballroom dancing since the age of four and has participated in over a hundred competitions. He is currently preparing for competitions in Switzerland and abroad. Denis Diachenko has already participated in several theater productions and has taken singing lessons.
Yulia Gapchuk is an actress from Kyiv who has appeared in many acting productions in her hometown. Most recently she performed at the Actor Theater Kiev. After her education in acting, she studied cultural studies at the University of Kyiv.
Pavel Ignatiev received a classical education as a pianist before discovering his love for improvisation and vocation as a jazz musician at a music festival in Rotterdam in 2006. His first solo album was released in 2007. In addition to numerous jazz standards, which he has interpreted together with Katiko Purtseladze since 2010, his main interests are visual music, literature and film.
Katiko Purtseladze comes from an art-loving family. Her mother was a violinist, her father worked as a mime. Katiko Purtseladze studied singing and acting in Kiev. Before turning to music full-time as a jazz vocalist, she played leading roles in award-winning Ukrainian film productions, a Ukrainian-Russian TV series, and various musicals starting in 2001. She has also dubbed songs and lyrics for various Disney classics.
Karolina Zahorulko is a choreographer and movement expert. She trained at the State Academy of Culture in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In addition to numerous engagements for show programmes, she taught children and young people in Kremenchug in several dance styles, from hip-hop to jazz dance and acrobatics. In addition, she built up a successful high-heel course programme.
Natalia Blok is a Ukrainian dramatist and screenwriter; her plays are staged and successful both in Ukraine and abroad. The texts were repeatedly included in the short lists of international and all-Ukrainian prestigious competitions. Natalia Blok is the founder of the Playwrights Theater (Kyiv), screenwriter of a number of films and TV series and the winner of the competition from Netflix for Ukraine. In spring 2022, fleeing the war, she moved to Basel, where she continues to work.
Oles Ilchenko was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. He is a Ukrainian writer, poet, screenwriter and artist and the author of more than 35 books for children and adults. Oles Ilchenko is a member of the PEN Ukraine and the National Union of Writers of Ukraine. Poems and novels by Oles Ilchenko have been published in Great Britain and Serbia. Poems by Oles Ilchenko are translated into English (US and Great Britain), German, Serbian, Lithuanian. Exhibitions of paintings by Oles Ilchenko took place in Basel and Bern.
Vasyl Karpyuk is a Ukrainian poet, writer and publisher. He is the author of the collection of poetry "Spiced wine on the way to Hoverla mountain", the book of essays "It's still summer, but everything is known in advance" and others. The selection of Vasyl’s poems was included in the "Anthology of Young Ukrainian Poetry of the 3rd Millennium". Another sphere of creative writing — books for children on the Carpathians as "Oleksa Dovbush. The Secret of Power", "Oleksa Dovbush. Aridnyk's lair" and "An unusual Christmas in the Carpathians".
Photo: Valentyn Kuzan
Maryana Maksymyak is a Ukrainian poet and writer. She is the author of two poetry collections: "Solo of the soul" and "People". She has a master's degree in theology and studied international journalism at the Lviv National University. In 2019, Maryana Maksymyak received a scholarship of the President of Ukraine for young writers and in 2022 a scholarship from PEN Ukraine. She worked at the Center for Urban History of Central and Eastern Europe and from 2022 in the Goethe Institute in Ukraine. Her poems have been translated into English and Hebrew.
Yevhen Polozhii is a Ukrainian writer and screenwriter. His most famous novels are Train (2001), Mary and her airport (2003), An uncle named God (2008), The other side of the hill (2010), Yuriy Yuriyovych, a favorite of women (2011), Ilovaisk (2015), 5 seconds, 5 days (2016) and Crossroads (2017). Yevhen Polozhii is the author of screenplays for the films Family Business (2017), Billboard at the Cemetery (2022) and Border, whose production stopped because of the war. He also runs projects dedicated to the culture of Slobozhanshina Ukraine and has curated 5 books in the series "Sumy. A great legacy".
Dzvinka Matiiash was born in Kyiv and is a Ukrainian writer and translator. She is the author of 11 books, 6 for children and youth, 5 for adults. Novel about Motherland (2006) is translated into Polish, Martha from Saint Nicolas Street into Chinese. Her short stories The stories about Roses, Rain and Salt (2012) were included in the BBC short-list-2012 of the best books. The novel for teenagers My name is Barbara (2021) is included into international catalogue of children's and youth literature White Ravens-2022.
Eugenia Senik was born in 1986 in Luhansk, Eastern Ukraine. She studied Ukrainian philology and general literature in Luhansk and completed a master's degree. She has been living in Switzerland since August 2021. Eugenia Senik is the author of five prose books (four novels and one short story collection). She devotes her works mainly to social issues and the search for answers to existential questions. In 2022, her third novel, The Match House, was published in German by Zytglogge Verlag.
Photo: Tatiana Azarova
Halyna Petrosanyak, was born in 1969 in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. She is the author of five volumes of poetry. A collection of poems Exophonien was published in German in 2021. In 2007 she won the Hubert Burda Literature Prize for Eastern European poetry. Since 2016, Halyna Petrosanyak has been living in Switzerland, translating prose into Ukrainian and also writing prose. In 2019, a collection of stories Stör mich nicht beim Weltretten and in 2021 the first novel in Ukraine were published.
Oksana Stomina is an author and civil activist from Mariupol. She wrote several books about the armed conflict in Ukraine. She had to leave Mariupol when the volunteer centre where she worked was destroyed. Her husband became a Russian prisoner of war. Oksana Stomina continues to be active in literature and tries to document the horrors of war with her work.
Team
Serge Honegger studied art history, literature and cultural theory. He specialises in performance, dance and contemporary music theatre. After working at various theatres in Switzerland and Germany, he joined the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich in 2020 as a dramaturge.
Carola Ruckdeschel was born in Bayreuth. She studied costume design at the FH Hannover and then came to the Schauspielhaus Zürich as costume assistant under the artistic direction of Christoph Marthaler. Today she works in her own studio as a dressmaker.
Manuela Casari is a trained geographer and historian. After her studies, she worked at the University of St.Gallen in the field of international relations. In 2020 she took over the project management of "soundscapes.live" and has been working for the SAPA Foundation since summer 2023.
Supporters
Contact
Manuela Casari, Production and Coordination
Serge Honegger, Concept und Dramaturgy
Claudio Mascolo, Webdesign and Visuals