Music of Free and Faithful People—Spirituals & Jazz

Jazz is the music of free people, and as a freedom-loving nation, jazz has become popular in Ukraine. Jazz first started in the form of spiritual music from African-American slaves. 

The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performed their most recent concert on June 11 at the Kyiv Opera. The concert program included two parts: spirituals and jazz. In the first part, the choir performed 12 traditional spirituals that lifted the audience’s spirits. In the second part, they heard “Mass in Blue” by Will Todd.

A narrator led the first part of the concert by translating texts into Ukrainian along with some background information. Since we performed all the spirituals in English, those explanations helped everyone better understand the context and emotions of the spirituals. Most of the songs had cheerful melodies, despite serious topics that they sang about.

One Ukrainian reporter wrote, "part of the concert felt like a Presbyterian Church and a church choir, but then music suddenly changed into familiar jazz motifs for the second half."

The first part of the concert, the main focus was on choral art, but the second part immersed the audience into the marvelous unity of choir, jazz band, and solo pieces. Anna Z. performed the main role in the jazz part. 

Nastia shared, “hearing spirituals and jazz by KSOC was an unusual combination for me, because the majority of people used to hear blues music in little basement halls and bars with a relaxed atmosphere… but the KSOC concert was something significant. You sit in a big hall, and more than 50 performers are on the stage singing for you, led by a conductor.” 

The difference between singing a jazz melody as a soloist and as a choir is massive. The choir’s voices floated gently through the hall and at the same time merged into one sound. “At this very moment, you feel something special and understand the scale of jazz music and its importance in a historical context.”