Key points
- The fourth Ukrainian Spring festival will take place in Stockholm from 1 to 24 April.
- The festival’s slogan is Lesya Ukrainka’s words Contra spem spero – “I hope without hope”.
- The opening ceremony will take place at Konserthuset Stockholm.
- The festival includes concerts, film screenings, exhibitions and artistic events.
- The closing concert will take place at the Royal Academy of Music with works by Lysenko and Lyatoshynsky.
- The organisers are Natalia Pasichnyk and Peter Eriksson.
From April 1 to 24, Stockholm will host the fourth edition of the “Ukrainian Spring” festival, organised by the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden. This year, the festival’s motto is taken from Lesya Ukrainka’s poetry, Contra spem spero – “I hope against hope,” the institute’s team told Suspilne Culture.
The festival will open at the Konserthuset Stockholm concert hall, where young musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Academy and the Lviv National Philharmonic will perform together for the first time in an international project supported by the Swedish Institute.
During the festival, around 15 events will take place, including:
- choir concerts by the Lviv boys’ choir “Dudaryk”;
- organ improvisations;
- evenings of Ukrainian and Swedish Baroque music;
- concerts at the Royal Swedish Opera;
- screenings of documentaries about contemporary Ukraine.
The festival will conclude with a concert at the Royal Academy of Music featuring works by Mykola Lysenko and Borys Lyatoshynsky, including Lyatoshynsky’s Third Symphony, which was once banned by the Soviet authorities.
“Ukrainian Spring” combines music, art, literature, and cinema to reflect contemporary Ukraine and its cultural heritage.
The festival was launched in 2016 as part of the “Rethinking Europe: Ukraine” project, and since 2022 it has been held under its current name to strengthen Ukraine’s voice and its role in the European cultural space.
The event is organised by pianist and artistic director of the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden, Nataliya Pasichnyk, and cellist Peter Eriksson, head of Sweden Festivals.
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