03/15/2026
Our next program this spring: two events co-presented with, and including members of 🌹
is a women’s vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
🌹Saturday April 11 🌹
Enchanted Songs of the Slavic Soul
Join internationally acclaimed performer and educator Polina Skovoroda-Shepherd for an immersive vocal journey into the heart of Eastern Europe.
Participants (anyone willing to sing) will engage with a diverse repertoire that spans the vastness of the Slavic world: Ritual & Pagan Songs, Lyrical & “Drawn-out “Melodies, Dance & Community Songs, The Intersection of Cultures
Led by Polina Skovoroda-Shepherd, a composer and choir leader raised in a Cossack/Jewish family in Tatarstan, this workshop utilizes her specially developed teaching methods.
🌹Sunday April 12🌹
The Kitka Institute and Glenview Classical Series present:
INTERWOVEN
An evening of songs inpired by textile arts.
INTERWOVEN brings together three visionary forces in an evening of music inspired by the artistry of textile traditions. Greek weaver-musician Phoebe Vlassis transforms her loom into a percussive instrument, spinning rhythm and song into a living tapestry of sound. Siberian-born composer and vocalist Polina Skovoroda-Shepherd reimagines East European Jewish, Slavic, and Tatar folk heritage through original compositions and daring, spinning improvisations. Joining them are members of Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Oakland’s renowned women’s vocal ensemble celebrated for forty-five seasons of fearless exploration of Balkan, Baltic, Caucasian, Mediterranean, and Slavic vocal traditions. Together, these artists weave voice, rhythm, memory, and innovation into a radiant sonic fabric—where ancient threads are interlaced with bold contemporary expression.
✨Founded in 1979, Kitka began as a grassroots group of amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared a passion for stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, and resonant strength of Eastern European women’s vocal music. ✨
