Muzyka. Discover Ukraine through music | Full course

Ukrainians are a musical people, yet their creations remain largely on the periphery of general discussions of music. Despite this historic marginalisation, Ukrainian music is richly varied and diverse, drawing from ancient folk sources, experimenting with avant-garde technologies, resisting sonic imperialism, and engaging in dialogue with the best-known and most beloved works of music history. In this eight-week course, we will discover key genres, figures, and movements of Ukrainian music, from authentic folk singing to musical responses to war. 

We will examine a wide range of repertoires across several centuries, performing styles, and contexts. The course will range from folk music traditions, such as authentic village singing and the history of Ukraine’s national instrument, the bandura, to the works of Kyiv Avant-Garde, musical dissidents coming of age in the 1960s. 

The course will also engage with contemporary efforts to decolonise Ukrainian music through figures whose identities have been contested by Russia, such as Dmytro Bortniansky, and those whose music was forcefully suppressed by Soviet authorities, as in the case of modernist composer Borys Liatoshynsky. The course will provide contemporary insights into how Ukrainian composers have responded to current political events, such as the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and how music has functioned as a diplomatic tool on global stages such as Eurovision. 

The course will offer an exceptional opportunity to hear from leading scholars and performers of Ukrainian music. It will present a concise introduction to major figures of Ukrainian music history while positioning their contributions in an overarching narrative of music from the crossroads of empire, at the heart of Europe, and in the birthplace of various musical innovations. No prior musical knowledge of any kind is required, but this course will offer even the most experienced listener new repertoires to explore and a framework to better understand Ukraine through sound. 

What you can expect:

• Comprehensive reading and listening materials
• Engaging presentations by scholars and musicians
• Access to recorded video lectures for flexible learning

 No prior musical knowledge is required.

The course will be held online, via Zoom and conducted in English.

Course curator: Dr Leah Batstone, musicologist and creative director of the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival in New York City.

Course coordinator: Olga Sydorushkina, UIL Programme Curator.

Dates

8 weekly seminars: 5 May – 23 June 2026
Time: 18:30 – 20:00 (London time)

Course Fees

Full course:

£240 early bird (available until 20 April)

£260 general / £180 student — includes Certificate of Completion and full course materials

One seminar:

£35 general / £25 student — includes course materials and video recording of the seminar attended

Friends of the Institute (10% discount):

Full course:

£234 general / £162 student

One seminar: £31.50 general / £22.50 student

Benefactors of the Institute (20% discount):

Full course:

£208 general / £144 student

One seminar: £28 general / £20 student

How to enrol

You can enrol by registering for the full course or individual seminars below.

Should you have any queries, please email us at [email protected]. We will aim to respond within five working days.

Programme

5 May 'The Folk Voice and the Bandura' with Iryna Voloshyna

12 May 'Ukrainian Art Songs: A Testament to Perseverance' with Andrew Skitko

19 May 'Mykola Lysenko and the Emergence of Ukrainian National Music' with Rutger Helmers

26 May 'The Ukrainian Baroque: the "Golden Trio" Composers of Choral Music' with Marika Kuzma

2 June 'Between Modernism, Ukrainisation, and Soviet Ideology: Borys Liatoshynsky's 1920s Case' with Iryna Tukova

9 June 'Mid-Century Nonconformists' with Peter Schmelz

18 June 'Broadcasting to the West: Ukraine and Cultural Diplomacy at the Eurovision Song Contest' with Olga Zaitseva-Herz

23 June 'Music after the Revolution of Dignity' with Oksana Nesterenko