One of UNESCO's priorities is to promote gender equality in all spheres of human activity. UNESCO chairs established at leading Ukrainian universities pay considerable attention to this issue. The UNESCO Department of Higher Technical Education, Applied Systems Analysis and Informatics has been operating at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute for over a quarter of a century.
On May 16, together with the UNESCO Chair “Music, Education, Science for Peace” at the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, under the patronage of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, it organized a charity concert “Ukraine – Europe: The Female Face.” The artistic director of the project was Professor of the Academy, UNESCO Artist for Peace, People's Artist of Ukraine German Makarenko.
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This event coincided with the 25th anniversary of the implementation of gender initiatives at KPI, making it particularly solemn. Moreover, it became another opportunity to do a good deed – to raise funds to support women who defend the freedom and sovereignty of Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces. For this purpose, donation boxes were set up in the hall of the Academic Council of the university, where the concert took place, and a QR code was displayed on a large screen during the performances, which redirected to the account of the university's Charitable Fund for the Support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic.” A small exhibition of works by artist Natalia Duka, entitled “Women's Faces,” was also set up in the Academic Council hall.
The concert featured instrumental and vocal works by Ukrainian composers dedicated to women as guardians, heroines, and mothers. The works reflected women's eternal desire for peace and life. They were performed by members of creative groups and soloists from the Igor Sikorsky KPI Center for Culture and Arts and the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine.
The concert program opened with a performance by the Folk Bandura Ensemble of the Igor Sikorsky KPI Center for Culture and Arts (artistic director, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine Olena Mozgova), which performed the composition “Capital of Beauty” (lyrics by V. Grygorak, music by V. Kostenko). It was a kind of prelude to the entire musical event, during which the audience heard familiar, half-forgotten, or even previously unknown musical works performed with brilliant professionalism. Brilliant is no exaggeration, because all the artists (in fact, mostly female artists) did not simply demonstrate their skills and singing or performing techniques, but tried to reveal the beauty of the piece being performed – whether it was a song or an instrumental composition – and convey its underlying meaning to the audience.
The concert program was well thought out and composed in such a way that, if not immediately, then a little later, it “caught” every listener, regardless of their musical preferences and age. So, after “Capital of Beauty,” Mykola Lysenko's piano piece "Rhapsody. Part 1“ on Ukrainian folk themes, performed by artists of the P.I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, Viktoria Dmytruk and Andre Vaynen (concertmaster Viola Taran); the poetic and lyrical ”Apple Tree Branch" by Lesya Dychko, performed by Natalia Krechko, Honored Artist of Ukraine and director of the KPI Folk Choir; the immortal “Song About a Towel” by Platon Maiboroda, with lyrics by Andriy Malyshko, which seems to embody the Ukrainian soul, was performed by the bandura trio “PAVA,” consisting of Solomiya Demyaniv, Yulia Velgan, and Marianna Logvinyuk from the National Music Academy of Ukraine; Igor Shamo's lyrical and heartwarming musical masterpiece “Dnipro Waltz” with lyrics by Valery Kurinsky, performed by Maria Valtina, an artist of the National Music Academy of Ukraine (accompanied by Oleksiy Begletsov); as well as the enchanting “Song of Peter” (“The sun is low, evening is near...”) from Mykola Lysenko's opera “Natalka Poltavka,” beautifully performed by international competition laureate and combat veteran Todor Panovsky, and the fiery rhythms and melodies of “Jazz in the Carpathians” by Oleksandr Saratsky, in which folk motifs of Galicia were played with modern colors (Sofia Kravtsova and Oleksandr Saratsky, concertmaster Andriy Sunegin, NMAU) And at the end, many listeners were treated to a real discovery: Kateryna Vovchuk, an employee of the Art Gallery and singer at the KPI Center for Culture and Arts, performed her own song “Fly Like a Bird” – both the song itself and her masterful performance simply amazed the audience with their perfection.
After the concert, representatives of the university media spoke with Anton Barabulea, Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO. They discussed the concert and its underlying theme, as well as the importance of gender equality for the world and the international organization he represents. “The protection of women is one of UNESCO's priorities,” he emphasized. “That is why it is so important to hear women's voices today. Because if we are building a European society, if we are moving towards Europe, then the implementation of gender equality must not be just a beautiful slogan, but an impetus for action and, in fact, action itself.”
Serhii Shukaiev, secretary of the UNESCO Department at KPI since 2004, spoke about the department's cooperation with similar departments at other universities, including in organizing this concert: "Cooperation with other UNESCO departments is one of the areas our department is involved in. And today's event is a demonstration of our joint work. As far as gender issues are concerned, KPI certainly has a lot of experience in this area, as our Gender Education Center was established back in 2004... In the 20 years since then, this topic has not become any less relevant: even international project activities require mandatory gender balance in project teams."