KITKA INC
1201 Marting Luther King Jr Way, Oakland, CA 94612 www.kitka.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Kitka is an American women's vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe. Dedicated to developing new audiences for music rooted in Balkan, Slavic, and Caucasian women's vocal traditions, Kitka also strives to expand the boundaries of folk song as a living and evolving expressive art form. Kitka's activities include an Oakland-based home series of concerts and vocal workshops; regional, national, and international touring; programs in the schools; recording, publication, and broadcast projects; master artist residencies; commissioning; community service work; and adventuresome collaborations.

COMMUNITY CHORUSES & VOCAL WORKSHOPS In FY 15-16 Kitka expanded our Community Chorus programs to include two open ensembles (Zele, directed by Janet Kutulas and the Beloved Balkan Songs Ensemble, directed by Shira Cion and Rumen Sali Shopov) and one auditioned ensemble (the Advanced Vocal Skills Lab, directed by Caitlin Tabancay Austin). In addition Kitka hosted a variety of public workshops and advanced artistic development masterclasses with guest ethnic folksong masters from Bulgaria (Tzvetanka and Ivan Varimezov), Ukraine (Yara Arts Group Koliadky, DakhaBrakha and Mariana Sadovska) Macedonia (Esma Redzepova and Folk Masters), and Russia (Kostroma Vocal Ensemble from Russian House Kedry). Kitka vocalists Corinne Sykes, Janet Kutulas, and Elizabeth Setzer also offered a series of individual workshops on Balkan Vocal Techniques and Choral Repertoire. Kitka also partnered with the Croatian American Cultural Center to co-promote a Croatian Klapa singing workshop led by Seattle-based vocalist and multi-instrumentalist John Morovich. #Served: 653

WINTERSONGS PERFORMANCES AND RECORDING In December 2015, Kitka presented our 14th Annual Bay Area Wintersongs holiday concert tour with performances at the Kanbar Center for the Arts in San Rafael, CA; St. Bede's Church in Menlo Park, CA; St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oakland, CA; and Old First Church in San Francisco, CA; In addition, Kitka presented our 5th Annual Free Wintersongs Community Sing at Nile Hall in Oakland, CA. Following these public performance events, Kitka began producing a new Wintersongs recording, with a series of audio and video recording sessions at 9th Street Opus Studios in Berkeley, CA. The new Wintersongs recording, entitled Evening Star is slated for release on Kitka's own Diaphonica record label in the fall of 2017. #Served: 1481

IRON SHOES Kitka, in collaboration with stage director/choreographer Erika Chong Shuch, composer/music director Janet Kutulas, and librettist/playwright Michelle Carter continued creative development of a new vocal-theater project entitled, Iron Shoes. Shuch, Kutulas, and Carter, together with Kitka singers and nine multi-disciplinary performers from the Bay Area performing arts community (Dohee Lee, Amara Tabor-Smith, Rami Margron, Melanie Elms, Beth Wilmurt, Erolina Kamburova, Rowena Richie, Atosa Babaoff, and Rebecca Seigel) worked as artists-in-residence for one week at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA and for two weeks at the Berkeley Repertory Theater's Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab in Berkeley, CA. By the end of FY 15-16 Act One of the two act evening-length work was completed. An Iron Shoes work in progress showcase was presented at the Berkeley Repertory Theater Ground Floor Lab before an audience of 100. Kitka aims to premiere the fully staged production of Iron Shoes in San Francisco in the spring of 2018. #Served: 123

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