Karmella Tsepkolenko

b. 1955 · Ukraine

Karmella Tsepkolenko (b. 1955, Odesa) studied at the P. S. Stolyarsky Odesa State Special Secondary Music School and the Odesa State Nezhdanova Conservatoire, earned a Ph.D. from the Moscow Pedagogical Institute, and attended masterclasses in Darmstadt and Bayreuth. She has written over 100 works released across 12 CDs, is professor of composition at the Odesa National Nezhdanova Music Academy, founder and artistic director of the International Festival of Modern Art “Two Days and Two Nights of New Music” in Odesa, and head of the Association New Music, the Ukrainian section of the ISCM. She is Secretary of the Board of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine, holds the title Honoured Arts Worker of Ukraine, and has received creative residencies, grants and scholarships from organizations including Die Höge.

ChamberOrchestralPiano

Awards

B. Liatoshynsky Prize (2001)
Honoured Arts Worker of Ukraine (2006)
Order “Guardian of Ukraine” (2019)

Performed at UCMF

Cycle of the Black Moon

UCMF 2020 · Music and Revolution in Ukraine · Feb 29 · Chamber

Iryna Kit, violin; Pavel Gintov, piano

Performed by Iryna Kit (Violin), Pavel Gintov (Piano)

Cycle of the Black Moon by Karmella Tsepkolenko is a work associated with astrology. As you know there are two moons: one black and one white. The cycle has nine movements (phases). The two moons move simultaneously and opposite each other. They rise higher and higher and suddenly meet for a moment, then move to another phase. At the first encounter on the surface, the black moon is in front and the white moon behind it. At the second intersection the black moon is not visible, but located behind the white moon. Here we draw a parallel between astrology and human life: even in a good situation, there is always something invisible — the moon, visible or not.

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Reading History

UCMF 2024 · Defense, Defiance, Dedication · Mar 28 · 2022 · Vocal

Cantata on a poem by Oksana Zabuzhko

Performed by Vira Slywotzky (Soprano), Valeriya Sholokhova (Cello), Margarita Rovenskaya (Piano)

“I am a Ukrainian composer and I cannot tear myself away from the Ukrainian people. I, along with my family, stayed in my hometown of Odesa to fight against the enemy that ruthlessly burns our land and kills innocent civilians. Since our festival ‘Two Days and Two Nights of New Music’ could not take place in April 2022 because of the war, I had the idea to create a series of concerts, ‘Ukrainian women creators with their own weapons,’ under the motto ‘Music is our weapon.’” Tsepkolenko’s response is a cantata — “like a mini opera,” with solo episodes of cello and piano — on Oksana Zabuzhko’s poem “Reading History,” recorded at the composer’s home in Odesa. Its closing lines are emblematic: Rome still stands, as it always has, and the barbarian will remain a barbarian.

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