Intercultural Music Dialogue: Voice, Bandura & Ukrainian Musical Identity

It gives us great pleasure to welcome acclaimed Ukrainian-Australian soprano and bandura virtuoso Larissa Kovalchuk to the next lecture-recital in our Performance Practice Development series, Bridging Cultures Through Music. The bandura, one of Ukraine’s most distinctive musical instruments, carries with it centuries of musical practice, storytelling, cultural memory, and identity. In Larissa Kovalchuk’s artistry, the instrument meets the classical voice, bringing Ukrainian musical traditions into dialogue with contemporary performance and the multicultural context of Australia. Through live performance, demonstration, and conversation, this lecture-recital will explore: Voice & Bandura: How the relationship between singing and instrumental accompaniment shapes phrasing, colour, resonance, and musical expression. Tradition & Cultural Memory: How Ukrainian musical traditions are transmitted through repertoire, language, storytelling, and performance practice. Musical Identity Across Cultures: How a musical tradition can retain its cultural roots while continuing to evolve through migration, teaching, and performance in new cultural environments. About the Artist Larissa Kovalchuk is an acclaimed soprano and bandura virtuoso whose career spans Ukraine, Western Europe, and Australia. Trained in voice, bandura, and conducting at the National Academy of Music in Ukraine, she has developed a distinctive artistic practice bringing together classical voice and the Ukrainian bandura. A laureate of the All-Ukrainian Bandura Festival, Larissa gained early international recognition at the All the World’s Violins Festival in France, curated by Yehudi Menuhin. Since relocating to Australia, she has performed at major venues and festivals including the Sydney Opera House, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Noel! Noel! concert series, the Woodford Folk Festival and the National Folk Festival, alongside appearances with SBS, ABC Radio and Television, and Channel 7’s The Voice. Alongside her performing career, Larissa holds a Master’s Degree in Education from The University of Sydney and is an experienced voice teacher and vocal coach. All Welcome. Conservatorium students and staff, musicians, researchers, and members of the wider community are warmly invited to attend. The lecture-recital will be followed by refreshments and an opportunity to continue the conversation with the artist and fellow attendees. Curator: Dr Lu Liu - Discipline Lead, Intercultural Music, Sydney Conservatorium of MusicFacilitator: Julia Shved Project Support: Yvonne Yun Zhou The Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Intercultural Music Program is generously supported by Paolo Hooke and Fan Guo.