SignsGames – Workshops in kyiv and berlin

for kids, teens, and their adults

Hotel Continental — Art Space in Exile

Kyiv Contemporary Music Days (KCMD), an educational and concert platform for new music, launches SignsGames, a project designed to help families of displaced Ukrainians with children to overcome the psychological effects of the Russian full-scale invasion with the help of music. Created in cooperation with professional music collectives from Ukraine and Germany and Ukrainian contemporary classical composers, the project focuses on the therapeutic aspects of collective music-making and group interactions, aiming to promote new music among the younger generation.

The project will consist of eight free workshops for kids and teenagers in Kyiv (1–2 June 2024) and Berlin (30 June, 6–7 July 2024). At the workshops, children will learn what new music is and get to know professional musicians in a relaxed friendly setting: in Kyiv, they will meet the members of the National Ensemble of Soloists Kyiv Camerata and in Berlin, the musicians of the Ensemble KNM Berlin. The main part of the workshops, however, will be practical and playful: children will get to play music together with adult musicians.

KCMD commissioned Ukrainian composers Renata Sokachyk and Yana Shliabanska to create musical pieces to be performed at workshops exclusively for the SignsGames project. The works are designed to be performed by professional musicians together with children and teenagers with no experience of playing musical instruments. Combining music-playing with games, the pieces will deliberately include elements of randomness and surprise, so children can learn new instruments without worrying about playing something wrong.

The project’s title refers to the series Signs, Games and Messages by influential 20th-century composer György Kurtág. Signs, Games and Messages are works for various instrumental ensembles, in which the composer evokes light-hearted playfulness and invites the listener to explore the instruments for which the works are written. Similarly, in their works, Renata Sokachyk and Yana Shliabanska create a space for children and teenagers to play musical games, explore musical instruments, and live the experience of music-making within a real ensemble on an equal footing with professional musicians.

The workshops were developed in consultation with professional psychologist and music therapist Maryna Sliot. A safe space will be created for children, teenagers, and their families where they can relax, meet new people, have fun, and learn something new.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Hotel Continental — Art Space in Exile, Elsenstraße 87, 12435 Berlin

Sunday, 30 June, 10:00–12:30 — kids 
Saturday, 6 July, 14:00–16:30 — teenagers
Sunday, 7 July, 10:00–12:30 — kids & 14:00–16:30 — teenagers

Ensemble KNM Berlin

• Rebecca Lenton, flute
• Theo Nabicht, bass and contrabassclarinet
• Cosima Gerhardt, cello
• Jonathan Heilbron, double bass

For more information and to register for a workshop:

https://en.kcmd.eu/projects/signs-games

About the project

The project is implemented in partnership with the National Ensemble of Soloists Kyiv Camerata, Ensemble KNM Berlin, and Neue Musik für Alle e.V., and with the support of «Culture Helps / Культура допомагає».

«Culture Helps / Культура допомагає» is a project co-funded by the European Union under a dedicated call for proposals to support Ukrainian displaced people and the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors. The project is a cooperation between Insha Osvita (UA) and zusa (DE).