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Photograph courtesy of Kitka
Kitka's eight singers, Leslie Bonnett, Shira Devra Cion, Catherine Rose Crowther, Deborah Dietrich, Juliana Graffagna, Janet Kutulas, Ann Moorhead and Lily Storm, will perform Aug. 11 at St. Luke's Church.
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Sunset Series closes with folk octet
By Shari Kaplan
For the last concert of its third annual Sunset Series, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, at 20 University Ave., in downtown Los Gatos, has booked the octet Kitka to provide an evening of choral arrangements and folk songs on Aug. 11.
Kitka formed in 1979 as an informal group of amateur vocalists who shared an interest in, and a talent for, the distinctive harmonies, dissonances, rhythms and ornamentations found in the music of Slavic, Balkan and Eastern European countries.
In 1981, under the direction of vocalist, composer and conductor Bon Brown Singer, Kitka became a professional ensemble that began making a name for itself throughout the United States and internationally. Since 1997, the group has been co-directed by longtime members Shira Devra Cion, Juliana Graffagna and Janet Kutulas. Together, the eight women who make up Kitka have helped their group earn grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, 10 other charitable foundations and a national network of individual supporters.
Among the countries whose folk songs Kitka's members have researched, arranged or adapted are Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia and the Ukraine. The group also sings songs in ancient Greek, Latin, medieval Gallician, Yiddish and Ladino.
Just as the influences and styles of their songs differ, so do Kitka's eight members, who come from diverse cultural, spiritual and musical backgrounds. The group's most recent recording project is a CD of 18 Balkan and Slavic songs, titled Nectar. A new CD is due out by the end of the year. Kitka can also be heard lending its voices to several movie soundtracks, including Braveheart, At Play in the Fields of the Lord and Jacob's Ladder.
The Kitka concert begins at 8 p.m. Suggested donation for admission is $20 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens. Children 12 and younger are admitted free. All members of the community are welcome. For tickets or more information, call Lucy Worthington at 408.395.1541 or the church at 408.354.2195. For more information about Kitka, visit www.kitka.org on the Internet.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
