Heinali and Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko 'Гільдеґарда (Hildegard)'

Composer and sound artist Heinali (Oleh Shpudeiko, 1985, Kyiv), together with vocalist Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko, ( 1997, Lviv), present Гільдеґарда (Hildegard), a collaborative project based on the music of the 12th-century abbess and polymath Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179).

Moving between early music, modular synthesis, and vocal practice, the performance conveys a spatial and embodied experience, where low frequencies and sustained tones are felt as much as heard, creating a sensorial field shaped by the somatic experience of war. Two compositions by Hildegard von Bingen are performed at a radically slowed tempo, unfolding through drones and generative structures that shift between monophonic and polyphonic forms. Emphasizing its physical intensity and timbral range, Saienko’s voice draws on Ukrainian folk singing, a tradition that endured despite attempts to standardise and neutralise it. Rather than an act of cultural preservation or a romanticized homage to the past, the project deliberately avoids the idealisation and exoticisation of folk music.

This concert is presented as a double-bill with a concert by Abdullah Miniawy. We recommend purchasing a combined ticket for both concerts.