“Even God stops to listen when KITKA—unamplified, without sets, props, instruments, or even lyrics most people can understand—opens its collective mouth. The sound is so chillingly beautiful, by anyone’s standards, that the entire audience sits enraptured, most of them with eyes shut. My own eyes flooded with tears.
— Summer Burkes, THE GUARDIAN
”
Kitka’s Sanctuary program features meditative and ecstatic songs from Eastern European spiritual traditions interwoven with polyphonic folk songs whose haunting melodies and harmonies soar in resonant space. Listeners are transported by a continuous unfolding of music that flows seamlessly from ethereal, contemplative pieces to tunes that rouse with their earthy rhythms.
examples of sanctuary program
ROMELNI KERUBINTA - Georgia, composed by Zakaria Paliashvili (1871-1933). A sacred chorale from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Recorded live in 2021 at Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, CA.
SHEN GIGALOBT Georgian Orthodox tradition, as sung by Georgian women's ensemble Ialoni, who met with Kitka in Tbilisi in October, 2010 In the Georgian Orthodox liturgy, there is a list of praises to God which is similar to that in the Gloria of the Roman Catholic mass.
LOOMINE (Estonia, adapted from the arrangement of Margo Kõlar of Heinavanker by Kristine Barrett). A Runic folk hymn describing the creation of the world. Much like the spinning of fibers to create a thread, the lyrics and structure of this song work to spin the world into existence.
Recorded live in 2018 at Old First, San Francisco, CA.
KITKA: Zapovedi Blaženstv / The Beatitudes (Russia, Composed in 1998 by Vladimir Martynov, from the repertoire of the Sirin Ensemble, arranged for treble voices by Caitlin Tabancay Austin).
The Beatitudes are eight blessings sung as the Third Antiphon at the Divine Liturgy in Slavic Orthodox practice. They call upon the listener to embody the ideals of mercy, spirituality, and compassion.
the Sanctuary album
Selected Reviews of the Sanctuary program
Please note, the program above is being offered for Kitka's 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Additional ethnically specific and/or collaborative programs are also available by special arrangement. Kitka also offers a variety of community outreach activities including vocal workshops, choral masterclasses, community sings, lecture-demos, K-12 assembly programs, open rehearsals, pre-concert talks and more.
We would be delighted to discuss ways to engage your communities more deeply in Kitka's work.