arrangements

Kyiv

2025

The Crossing, Donald Nally & Tommy Mesa


For choir and solo cello.

Choral arrangement of Natalia Tsupryk’s Kyiv (2022) for cello and electronics, based on the sound of air raid sirens recorded by Natalia in the capital of Ukraine on 24 August, Ukraine's Independence Day.

Commissioned by The Crossing and Donald Nally.

Premiered by The Crossing and Tommy Mesa (cello) at The Crossing @ Christmas 2025

  • December 19, 2025 – St. Mark’s Church, Philadelphia

  • December 20, 2025 – St. Peter’s Church, New York City

  • December 21, 2025 – Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia

On the arrangement:

“I sought to capture the unsettling stillness of Natalia's original work; voices drone, whisper, quake, pulse and eventually wail. Against this tense atmosphere the solo cello embodies the radiant fullness of the human spirit – its anxiety, perseverance, and sorrow – in the face of prolonged assault and an uncertain future. It is our attempt as Philadelphians to understand, through singing, the edgy anticipation felt by our fellow Ukrainians each not-so-silent night.”