KharkivMusicFest "A Story About the Future"

KharkivMusicFest is the leading classical music festival in Eastern Ukraine, established in 2018 and held every spring in Kharkiv - a city located just 30 kilometres from the Russian border. Despite the ongoing war, the festival has continued without interruption since its founding, and has never relocated.In 2026, KharkivMusicFest takes place from 24 April to 21 May. This year's theme - A Story About the Future - reflects something the festival has embodied from the start: that choosing to make art in difficult circumstances is itself a statement about what comes next. Every spring, the music returns to Kharkiv. That, too, is a kind of story about the future.The programme brings together leading Ukrainian ensembles and soloists across nearly a month of concerts. The festival opens with the National Presidential Orchestra of Ukraine (conductor: Maksym Husak) performing works by Britten, Bezborodko, and Mahler. Further highlights include a concert dedicated to Kharkiv composer Fedir Yakymenko on his 150th anniversary, a performance by the Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv Philharmonic, an electroacoustic programme by composer Alla Zagaykevich, a concert of improvisational electroacoustic music by Volodymyr Voyt (Bandura) and Ostap Manuliak (electronics), and a closing concert by the National Ensemble of Soloists "Kyiv Camerata" under Vitali Alekseenok - Artistic Director of KharkivMusicFest and Principal Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein since the 2024-25 season.The festival also nurtures the next generation of musicians through the KharkivMusicFest Children's Symphony Orchestra - an ensemble of young players aged 10 to 18, founded in 2019, which performs as part of the main festival programme each year.All concerts are held in safe venues in accordance with current security requirements.