Re:trouvailles
Concert Performance
Kühlhaus, Kubus
Maria Kalesnikava: Flute, composition, direction
Viktoria Vitrenko: Singing, composition, direction
This concert is made possible with the support of:
Re:trouvailles is a concert performance by the Belarusian flutist and civil rights activist Maria Kalesnikava and the Ukrainian singer and conductor Viktoriia Vitrenko.
At the heart of the discussion is the question of what remains between two people when proximity was not possible over the years, and what connection, what support, endure even over distance and time, where words were lacking. And: What remains when one comes out again? The evening asks about the moment that follows – about the new beginnings that a person must make after such a time, and about how friendship can bear them.
Cultural Policy Talk After the concert, Maria Kalesnikava and Viktoriia Vitrenko talk about art in times of unfreedom and war, about solidarity and the power of encounter with Karsten Witt (CLSX / Karsten Witt Musik Management) and Nikolaus Rexroth, Artistic Director of Into the Open.
Program
Liavon Shvir
"Radiophobia: A Silent Requiem for Chornobyl" for flute, voice and electronics (world premiere, 2026)
George Aperghis
“Retrouvailles” Part I, Version for Two Performers (2013)
Kate Soper
“Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say” for flute and voice (2010)
Kalesnikava/Vitrenko
NN for two performers, flute and voice (world premiere, 2026)
Alla Zagaykevych
NN for flute, voice and electronics (world premiere, 2026)
Liavon Shvir
"Radiophobia: A Silent Requiem for Chornobyl" for flute, voice and electronics (world premiere, 2026)
Kate Soper
“Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say” for flute and voice (2010)
Alla Zagaykevych
NN for flute, voice and electronics (world premiere, 2026)
George Aperghis
“Retrouvailles” Part I, Version for Two Performers (2013)
Kalesnikava/Vitrenko
NN for two performers, flute and voice (world premiere, 2026)
Contributors
maria kalesnikava
Flutist / Curator
Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian flutist, cultural manager, and civil rights activist. She studied flute in Minsk and Stuttgart before becoming the head of staff of the Belarusian opposition campaign against Lukashenko in 2020. After her abduction by security forces and the attempt to deport her, she was sentenced to eleven years in prison for "conspiracy to seize power" and spent over two years in solitary confinement. In December 2025, she was released and currently lives in exile in Berlin, where she is once again active as an artist.
viktoria vitrenko
Soprano / Curator
Viktoria Vitrenko is a Ukrainian soprano, conductor and curator. Her debut album "Szenen" (2019, AUDITE) featuring chamber music by György Kurtág was awarded the Supersonic Pizzicato Award; in 2024 the album "Forgotten Words I Wished to Say" (Sony Classical) with Alexei Lubimov followed. She has performed at the National Opera of Ukraine, the Opéra national de Lorraine (NOX-2), and at leading contemporary music festivals such as ECLAT, Heroines of Sound and Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and has conducted orchestras such as the Haydn Orchestra, the Munich Symphonic Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra.