The Ukrainian Classical Voice Project joined the faculty and students of Rio Hondo College for Stand with Ukraine: Ukrainian Art Song Residency, an artistic and educational collaboration centered on Ukrainian classical vocal music. Presented in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the project grew from the students’ decision to dedicate their end-of-year showcase to Ukrainian art songs, including works set to poetry by Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s national poet and a defining voice of Ukrainian cultural and national consciousness.

In preparation for the performance, UCVP founder Irina Petrik worked with the students remotely through individual and group coachings in Ukrainian lyric diction, pronunciation, and dramatic expression. Under the leadership of music director Dr. Joanne Choe, the students also participated in discussions exploring cultural appropriation in music and broader questions of privilege, equity, creative freedom, inclusion, and the responsibility of artists to engage thoughtfully with cultural traditions beyond their own.

The culminating performance featured solo, duet, and choral works by Mykola Lysenko, Hordiy Hladkyj, Danylo Kryzhanivskyj, Yakiv Stepovyj, Vasyl Umanets and Borys Lyatoshynsky, performed in the original Ukrainian. The students demonstrated their commitment not only through careful preparation of the repertoire and language, but also through their passionate performance of the National Anthem of Ukraine in solidarity with a nation confronting the devastating first months of the full-scale war.

This early UCVP collaboration embodied principles that would become central to the Project’s continuing work: making underrepresented Ukrainian repertoire accessible to performers, providing the linguistic and cultural resources necessary to approach it with integrity, and using music education as a space for meaningful dialogue about representation, cultural responsibility, and artistic freedom.