Ushynsky University became the main co-organizer of the first event in Odesa dedicated to celebrating the birthday of Vasyl Stus, a poet, thinker, and symbol of inner freedom.
The initiator, ideologist, main organizer, director and host of the event was Kateryna Valeriivna Tkachenko, Doctor of Philosophy, lecturer at the Educational and Scientific Institute of Musical and Performing Arts and Socio-Cultural Practices.
The implementation of the event was made possible with the support of Ushynsky University in cooperation with Yaroslav Chepkalenko, acting head of the university's marketing and development strategy department.
On January 6, Odesa joined the all-Ukrainian festival-performance "STUSUJEMOS" - a living tribute to the poet, who remained free even in chains. The founder of the event is a military man, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, musician Ihor Dvygalo, who holds organizational meetings right from the dugout - as evidence that culture in Ukraine continues to live and develop even in the most difficult conditions.
This year, Odesa, Lviv, Dnipro, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Kamianets and other cities of Ukraine joined Kyiv, creating a common cultural space of memory and modern interpretation of the figure of Vasyl Stus.
In Odesa, the celebration took place in the More Music Club space and appeared as an eclectic musical and poetic performance that revealed Vasyl Stus as a rebel artist, deeply relevant to the modern generation. The evening's program was built as a holistic dramatic action, combining electronic music, poetry, theatrical elements and the living word.
The students of the Faculty of History and Philology of Ushynsky University took an active part in the performative part of the event. The poetic and musical program featured performances by Valeria Ermakova, First Deputy Head of the University's Student Government, Kateryna Zasoba, Head of the Student Government of the Faculty of History and Philology, Anastasia Nikiforova, Laboratory Assistant of the Department of History of Ukraine, as well as Alina Levchenko and Daria Semzenis. The participants recited poetry by Vasyl Stus accompanied by piano and acoustic guitar, creating a chamber and emotionally rich atmosphere.
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The musical program was supplemented by performances by student initiatives. Elister Rachynsky, the head of the university's student government, and Artem Gaidai, the second deputy head of the student government, as part of their own band T&EL, specially prepared two lyrical punk tracks for the event based on poems by Vasyl Stus - "Dead Dream of Galaxies" and "This Feeling That I'm Not the One Living."
An important part of the evening was the stage participation of the event organizer herself. Doctor of Philosophy Kateryna Tkachenko took to the stage as part of the electronic project KATRЯ & Robert Franco, presenting a dark-pop performance based on poems by Vasyl Stus, Yuriy Lypa, and Taras Shevchenko. These compositions became a modern musical reading of classical Ukrainian poetry, combining electronic sound with deep national meaning.
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The evening began with electronic music, to which Nazariy Kerdivar read Stus's poetry - the voice of the poet from the sixties sounded like the voice of a new generation.
After a minute of silence, the students of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Musical and Performing Arts and Socio-Cultural Practices, majoring in "Musical Art" — Inna Glushchenko (3rd year of study) and Daria Soroka (4th year of study) — performed the National Anthem of Ukraine accompanied by piano.
The event program also featured a musical stand-up by the independent Kyiv theater "Between Three Columns" and mini-sets by Odesa bands in various genres — from electronics to industrial metal. Some of the musical compositions were created directly based on Vasyl Stus's poems, others — as an artistic reflection and fantasy inspired by his texts.
Between the musical blocks, short facts from Vasyl Stus's life were heard — dates, events, and details that usually remain outside the official biographies, but allow us to feel the poet's personality more deeply.
The evening ended with a joint carol "Good evening to you, good master master". January 6 is the last day of the carol.
In Soviet times, caroling was a form of cultural resistance, for which people were persecuted and arrested. Among those punished for caroling was Vasyl Stus. That evening, the carol sounded in unison in different cities of Ukraine, creating a single all-Ukrainian space of memory, unity, and defiance.
For Ushynsky University, participation in the co-organization and coverage of this extremely important event for the city, which was supported by the Odesa Military City Administration and a number of national and regional media outlets — 1+1, Suspilne, Inter, Channel 5, Odesa publications “Sea of People,” “1 City,” “Odesa in the Access Code Project,” and others, became an important step in the development of modern socio-cultural activity.
This event became the voice of youth, who, relying on a deep understanding of their own history and culture, shape the future — just as responsibly and consciously as Vasyl Stus did.
Read more about the event here: