In November 2026, Graz will host the first DNIPRO Festival of Ukrainian Art, a new cultural initiative presenting Ukrainian literature, classical and traditional music while creating a space for encounters between Ukrainian and Austrian artists and audiences.

The festival programme brings together three events in Graz on 2, 6 and 13 November. From contemporary literary reflections on the experience of war to Ukraine’s Baroque musical heritage and the living tradition of Ukrainian folk singing, the programme highlights the diversity of Ukrainian culture and its connections with the broader European cultural landscape.

Part of the programme will also extend beyond Styria: following the Graz event, Ostap Slyvynsky’s Wörter im Krieg will be presented in Vienna, Salzburg and St. Pölten.

2 November | “WÖRTER IM KRIEG” by Ostap Slyvynsky

📍 Forum Stadtpark, Stadtpark 1, 8010 Graz
🕡 6:30 pm

The festival opens with a book presentation and performative reading of Ostap Slyvynsky’s “Wörter im Krieg”.

The book brings together short stories of people whose lives have been transformed by war. The acclaimed Ukrainian poet and literary scholar captures their experiences through words and personal testimonies, creating a polyphonic portrait of a society living through war. The German translation by Austrian translator Maria Weissenböck was published in 2023. The book has already been translated into more than 14 languages.

In Graz, Wörter im Krieg will be presented for the first time in Austria together with author Ostap Slyvynsky, translator Maria Weissenböck, musician and composer Nick Acorne, actress Ninja Reichert, and literary scholar Mariya Donska.

Further presentations will take place on 4 November in Vienna, organised by the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM); on 5 November in Salzburg, organised by the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Salzburg; and on 7 November in St. Pölten, organised by Bildungshaus St. Hippolyt and the Ukrainian Cultural Association “RASOM” in Krems.

6 November | “UKRAINISCHE KLÄNGE. BAROCK”

📍 Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz
🕖 7:00 pm

The festival’s second evening continues the story of “Ukrainische Klänge” (“Ukrainian Sounds”), which will bring Ukrainian musical culture to audiences in Graz for the sixth time.

In 2026, the programme turns to the world of Baroque music. Alongside masterpieces by Arcangelo Corelli, George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the audience will hear works by Ukrainian composers Maksym Berezovsky and Dmytro Bortniansky. The programme highlights both the richness of Ukraine’s musical heritage and its place within the wider history of European music.

The concert is being developed in cooperation with the Institute of Early Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Kunstuniversität Graz). Its director, Prof. Susanne Scholz, will prepare a special programme together with her students, including Olesia Romaniv (violin) and Anna Kilchytska (harpsichord).

The festival will also welcome the Terra Barocca ensemble from Lviv, under the artistic direction of harpsichordist Anna Ivaniushenko. Soprano Tetiana Miyus will return to “Ukrainische Klänge” for the fifth time.

The concert will take place in the beautiful Baroque Meerscheinschlössl, providing a particularly fitting setting for this musical journey.

13 November | “URSPRÜNGE” – An Interactive Vocal Journey with FAJNA Folklore Labore

📍 Bischof Zwerger Saal, Sparbersbachgasse 58, 8010 Graz
🕖 7:00 pm

The festival finale belongs to FAJNA Folklore Labore, a group that has been part of “Ukrainische Klänge” from the very beginning and has become an integral part of Ukrainian cultural life in Graz.

Four Ukrainian singers – Kseniia Eroess, Mariia Mitic, Olesia Romaniv and Anastasiya Stakhanska – will take the audience on an interactive musical journey through the traditional Ukrainian annual cycle.

The concert presents ritual songs closely connected with seasonal celebrations, customs and traditions that have accompanied generations of Ukrainians over the centuries. Moving from spring to winter, the programme invites audiences to discover not only the distinctive sound of Ukrainian traditional singing, but also the cultural practices and contexts that have kept this music alive.

Ukrainian art as a space for international dialogue

The first DNIPRO Festival of Ukrainian Art in Graz brings together different artistic forms and generations, contemporary reflections on war and centuries of cultural heritage. At the same time, the festival is built on a broad network of Austrian-Ukrainian and international cooperation.

The project is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport, the Cultural Department of the Province of Styria, as well as the Austrian Cooperation Office in Lviv, Ukraine Office Austria, the Cultural Affairs and Integration Departments of the City of Graz.

Cooperation partners include the Institute of Early Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Kulturvermittlung Steiermark, the Institute for Human Sciences, the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Graz, Bildungshaus St. Hippolyt, the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Salzburg, the Lviv National Philharmonic, the Lviv National Music Academy and LiterAktiv.

The DNIPRO Festival demonstrates the diversity of ways in which Ukrainian culture can be presented in Austria today – from literature documenting the experience of war to Baroque musical heritage and traditional singing. At the same time, it creates opportunities for new professional encounters, cultural exchange and a deeper engagement of Austrian audiences with Ukraine.