BRATTLEBORO — The San Francisco-based women's vocal ensemble Kitka will perform its critically acclaimed “Wintersongs” program in a free holiday concert on Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre.
Marlboro College and Kingdom County Productions is presenting this showcase of seasonal music from a wide variety of Eastern European ethnic and spiritual traditions as a gift to the community.
Kitka is an American women's vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe. Dedicated to developing new audiences for music rooted in Balkan, Slavic, and Caucasian women's vocal traditions, Kitka says it strives to expand the boundaries of folk song as a living and evolving expressive art form.
The group took its name from a frequently occurring symbolic word in Balkan women's folk song lyrics. Kitka means “bouquet” in Bulgarian and Macedonian.
“Over the years the group's configuration has varied, but there are currently eight of us in our touring company now,” said Shira Cion, who has been with Kitka for 26 years and is now its executive and artistic director. “We mainly sing a capella, although sometimes we may have light accompaniment, if it is traditional in the music we sing.”
She added, “We're a bunch of feminists with beauty and talent who have no age boundaries. Our youngest singer is now around 25 and the eldest in her early 60s. We are committed to this kind of diversity, for we are about passing what we learned from generation to generation. We sing songs in traditional village polyphony but arranged by members of Kitka or by modern, brilliant, East European composers.”
The Latchis concert of Wintersongs features a broad range of spiritual and folkloric music from Georgia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Russia, Armenia, Moravia, and Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jewish communities.
Kitka will perform these pieces in both ancient, traditional polyphonic styles as well as in innovative new arrangements created by ensemble members and composers and arrangers from Kitka's ever-expanding global community.
Program highlights include an old Romanian carol collected by Béla Bartók in the early part of the 20th century, a set of traditional Ukrainian carols, and some original multicultural arrangements by this year's “Wintersongs” project director, Kitka vocalist Corinne Sykes.
Kitka has earned international recognition for its distinctive sound, exploring a vast palette of ancient yet contemporary-sounding vocal effects. The ensemble's earthy to ethereal timbres evoke an astonishing range of subtle to extreme inner states, instincts and emotions.Many international musical authorities consider Kitka the foremost interpreter of Balkan and Slavic choral repertoire working in the United States.
Founded in 1979, Kitka began as a grassroots group of amateur singers.
“Kitka began as as an offshoot of Westwind International Folk Ensemble, a group which still exists today,” says Cion. “Westwind wanted to perform a Bulgarian dance that called for a female a cappella group, and some women singers joined together for this one event.”
However, the singers fell in love with the music, and they began to meet regularly to share their passion for Eastern European women's vocal music.
“Kitka began by mastering the techniques of traditional folk music mostly of the Bulgarian and Macedonian regions, but later adding some Russian and Ukrainian music,” Cion told The Commons. “Now, Kitka performs music of all the Balkans, into Georgia and Armenia. About 10 years after Kitka was formed, the group resolved to become much more professional.”
Under the direction of Bon Singer from 1981 to 1996, Kitka blossomed into a refined professional ensemble earning international renown for its artistry, versatility, and mastery of the demanding techniques of traditional and contemporary Balkan, Slavic, and Caucasian vocal styling.
None of the founding members of Kitka are still with the group.
“The early members were amateurs and did not want to give the extra commitment the group needed,” Cion said.
Life can be difficult being a member of Kitka, not merely because of the work involved in mastering the artistry of folk music, but in a practical way too.
“Our members can not make a living solely from belong to Kitka,” Cion said, “so we all have to find an extra way to make money and manage to fit Kitka into our lives.”
Since 2000, Kitka has also been singing new music that was written for their voices.
Kitka is expanding its repertoire by collaborating regularly with contemporary composers who want to work with its vocal palette using ancient techniques of singing. Kitka has collaborated with theater and film directors, and has often performed abroad in cultural exchange in Eastern Europe.
“We collect songs, do research, and share what we learn by teaching and giving workshops and working with community choruses,” Cion said. “We own our own record label, which has already put out 11 albums, and we have another cooking in the oven. Kitka has also published songbooks of our music, which is a tool for choirs from all the country and more.”
The upcoming Wintersongs concert at the Latchis will be filled with holiday and traditional winter music, but with a unique take on this theme.
“I rather suspect that the audience will not know 99.9 percent of the music we do, unless they are an East European folk music expert,” Cion said with a laugh. “A lot of the folk music we sing predates Christianity, and later was assimilated as Christian.
“These songs stem from the ancient caroling tradition in homage to the winter solstice. The carolers would go to different places in the village to give a specific blessing on each house. Consequently, the songs can be very personal, and are tailored to a young married woman, or a boy, or even the rams in the barn.”
Some of the songs in the concert indeed have a Christmas theme but in a folkloric village tradition. “You will find religious imagery combining with those of the natural world,” Cion said.
Kitka also performs Jewish folksongs. “We do not so much emphasize Hanukkah in Wintersongs, which is really not that big of a holiday in the Jewish tradition, and those songs tend to be for children. We instead perform other Jewish hymns which emphasis spirituality.”
Kitka performs one Jewish song from Poland about the harshness and difficulty of winter.
“The song became something of an anthem during the Jewish Holocaust,” Cion said. “It is somewhat a depressing piece, which ends with a lament that winter seems to last forever. When it was done during World War II, sometimes those lines were changed to have a more hopeful meaning, saying that spring may not be far away.”
Summing up what the concert is all about, Cion concluded, “Produced by a tremendous global community working with native folk song masters, Wintersongs is a crystallization of many generations of singers and researches and fans of this music.”
Jay Craven, filmmaker and artistic director of Kingdom County Productions, says he is excited that he can bring Kitka to Brattleboro.
“Kitka is fabulous,” he said. “I presented them in St. Johnsbury four years ago and people are still talking about the show. The harmonies - and the unusual music they perform - provide what we always hope the arts can do to make possible the experience of fresh discovery of something extraordinary, beautiful, and engaging.”
Craven also said he is glad that he can present Kitka to the public at no charge.
“I like that price is not a barrier for this fabulous concert, and Marlboro College is equally enthusiastic,” Craven said. “We would like to do this at least once a year to show our appreciation for the community.”
He said the move also gives KCP and Marlboro College “an opportunity to collaborate, using this idea, in service to the community. We're working with community organizations to reach out to their constituents, as well. We hope this helps, over the long run, to develop an expanded audience.”
Craven said he has always been interested in new possibilities for the idea of community and culture.
“So the idea of a free show maximizes this potential,” he explained. “We saw this last spring when we worked with Marlboro College and The Thompson Trust to offer a free daytime matinee of 'Hamlet.' The response was fabulous and people were appreciative. We also had an evening show where people bought tickets. They were happy, too.”
After “Hamlet,” Craven immediately wanted to find another opportunity to stage a free performance. “Kitka made sense,” he said. “The fact that we can make it a holiday offering adds a nice touch for the season.”
Because the costs for Kitka will be more than $8,000, sponsors and donors were needed to make this possible.
“The Thomas Thompson Trust and Lucius N. Littauer Foundation liked our idea for this and have helped pay for it,” Craven said. “And we're also using some funding from our business sponsors, although we also need to get through the rest of our season using those same funds.”
Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Brattleboro Retreat, Cabot Creamery, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, and Marcia and Phil Steckler all responded to Craven's call for support for ambitious performing arts and film presentations in Windham County. Together, they helped make the free Kitka Wintersongs concert a reality.