Solomiya Moroz is a UK-based Ukrainian-Canadian composer and flutist whose textural music defies preconceived notions of timbre and conventions of harmony. Moroz is interested in interdisciplinary and gestural composition; she blends into her music improvisation and elaborate kinds of electronic processing. Her intricately cascading textures accumulate gradually, sometimes buzzing restlessly and other times entering into a groggy, microtonal trance — you never know where Moroz’s music will take you. A good entry point is the eerily ruminative In C, for the unusual combination of bandura (a Ukrainian plucked instrument), flute, and electronics.
The world premiere of Moroz’s newest composition is a high point of the 2025 Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, in New York City. Since its inauguration in 2020 by musicologist Leah Batstone, the festival has opened a window into the arts and literature of Ukraine, a country whose rich cultural heritage has been pushed to an existential limit by the ongoing war but has also been brought to public consciousness. The festival continues to foreground Ukraine through contemporary music, songs, chamber works, literature, and roundtable discussions. This year’s edition, March 12–15, includes music by 20 Ukrainian composers, including eight who are new to the festival.
