UKRAINIAN MUSIC INITIATIVE
Contralto VIRA SLYWOTZKY has performed principal roles with Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Chelsea Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Sarasota Opera, Boston Midsummer Opera and the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project LIVE! She has sung concerts, recitals and cabarets in New York City venues from The Duplex to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and on tour all over the United States. Internationally Slywotzky has been heard in Canada, France, Hungary, Sweden and Wales.
A champion of new music, she has workshopped and premiered more than 30 works including songs, full scale opera and narration with orchestra. Slywotzky has always been committed to keeping Ukrainian song alive and thriving. Since February 2022 she has been serving as a cultural ambassador and fundraising for organizations providing aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian American cellist VALERIYA SHOLOKHOVA is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician based in New York City. She has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, David Geffen Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum, and Saturday Night Live. Valeriya has toured extensively across Europe, with performances in Denmark, Austria, Croatia, Poland, the Baltic States, Sweden, Germany, and Ukraine. She has also championed the works of Ukrainian composers through solo recitals, fundraisers, and her ongoing involvement with the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival. Valeriya has held principal cello positions at notable festival orchestras such as Spoleto Festival USA, Orchestra of the Americas, the Perlman Music Program, Music Academy of the West, and The Music Festival in Denmark. Currently, she serves as principal cellist with The New Orchestra of Washington, The Refugee Orchestra Project, The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, and is on the Lincoln Center Stage roster.
Pianist PAVLO GINTOV has been described as “a poet of the keyboard” by Marty Lash of the Illinois Entertainer, a “musical storyteller” by the Japanese publication Shikoku News, and “a fantastic pianist and extraordinary artist” by Jerry Dubins of the Fanfare Magazine. Following his debut at the Kyiv Philharmonic Hall at the age of 12, when he performed Mozart Concerto in D minor K 466 with Kyiv Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Roman Kofman, Mr. Gintov has been touring throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the United States, appearing on such stages as Carnegie Hall in New York, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Teatro Verdi Nationale in Milan, and Kioi Hall in Tokyo. He has been a soloist with Tokyo Royal Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and many others.
Performing works by Yakiv Stepovy/Oleksander Oles, Stefania Turkewich/Vira Vovk, Kyrylo Stetsenko/Mykola Voron, Mykola Lysenko, Serhiy Bortkiewicz, Kyrylo Stetsenko/Oleksander Oles, Ihor Sonevytsky/Ivan Franko, Yakiv Stepovy/Lesia Ukrainka, Valentyn Silvestrov, Olga Zaitseva-Herz/Taras Shevchenko, Andrii Didorenko.
Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 3pm.
Tickets $25. You can buy them here:
https://ukrainian-music-initiative.eventbrite.com
The Lyceum
201 S. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Reception to follow.