Ihor Saienko brings contemporary Ukrainian music to four German cities

Ihor Saienko brings contemporary Ukrainian music to four German cities AI

Ukrainian accordionist Ihor Saienko completed a four‑city tour of Germany in September 2026 as part of THE STUDY OF WHITE, performing a nine‑work programme in Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Halle that included three 2026 world premieres and his own piece WHY?!? (2020). The tour is an example of Kyiv Contemporary Music Days taking modern Ukrainian academic music abroad; the project began in Kyiv in December 2021 and now stages performances in Germany.

Accordionist Ihor Saienko has finished a multi‑city German tour under the international project THE STUDY OF WHITE. According to reporting, Saienko presented a programme of nine contemporary works in Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Halle, including pieces by Zoltan Almashi, Peter Helmut Lang, Tobias Eduard Shik, Christian Dimer and Maksym Shalyhin.

The concerts featured three world premieres from 2026 — Thomas Leppur’s Drei Miniaturen für Akkordeon solo, The Answer We Dream by Friedeman Stolte and Erschütterung by Viktor Rekalo — and included Saienko’s own composition WHY?!? (2020). THE STUDY OF WHITE was created by Kyiv Contemporary Music Days in partnership with the Saxon Music Union; organisers say the tour aims to introduce contemporary Ukrainian academic music to German audiences. Saienko described the tour as an artistic reset driven by difficult new repertoire and collaboration with new creative partners.

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