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On a winter evening in New Delhi, as diplomacy momentarily stepped aside for melody, music did what it has always done best—it reminded us that borders are temporary, but culture endures. The Austrian Embassy recently played host to an extraordinary concert that brought together Austria and Ukraine in a shared act of listening, improvisation and mutual respect. Framed as the formal launch of a larger Austrian–Ukrainian cultural project in India, the evening unfolded as a dialogue between jazz and classical music, between history and the present, between Vienna and Kyiv—performed not through speeches alone, but through sound.
The concert was inaugurated by Gisela Kristoferitsch, Chargé d’Affaires (a.i.) at the Austrian Embassy in New Delhi, who set the tone for the evening with warmth and clarity. “I am very glad that we could share this evening of joyful and intense music from Austria and Ukraine with listeners in India,” she said. “The concert is a wonderful way to introduce the wider series of cultural cooperation between Ukraine and Austria. Our countries have been in close exchange and collaboration for centuries, and it is wonderful to show this also in India.”
That spirit of continuity—of centuries-old conversations finding new voices—ran through the entire evening. At the heart of the performance were Michaela Rabitsch and Robert Pawlik, widely regarded as Vienna’s first couple of jazz. Rabitsch, Austria’s only top female jazz trumpet player—hailed by the US magazine Jazzscene as a “modern-day female Chet Baker”—and Pawlik, her long-time partner, composer and guitarist, brought a repertoire of original compositions that slipped effortlessly between jazz, world music and fusion. With Joe Abentung completing the trio, their sound is firmly rooted in jazz tradition, but never confined by it.
Joining them was Dr. Taras Filenko, renowned Ukrainian musicologist, pianist and maestro, whose presence transformed the concert into something more than a jazz evening—it became a meditation on musical memory.
As Ukrainian Ambassador Dr. Oleksandr Polishchuk noted in his address, the occasion carried particular weight. “This evening marks the official launch of a special Austrian–Ukrainian cultural project in India,” he said. “Importantly, this project is the result of agreements reached between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Austria, and we are deeply grateful to the Austrian Government for its strong support and partnership.” He went on to acknowledge the institutions behind the initiative—the Ukrainian Institute and the Austrian Cultural Forum in New Delhi, supported by the Embassy of Ukraine—and thanked the teams that made it possible, particularly Michael Pal, Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum, for their close cooperation.
For Ambassador Polishchuk, the evening’s musical collaboration was also deeply personal. “We are very happy to see Taras Filenko back in India,” he said, noting that this was the maestro’s third visit. “Tonight’s concert is especially exciting, as he will perform with this amazing Austrian jazz band, creating a vibrant musical dialogue and a fresh, contemporary interpretation of Ukrainian music.”
That dialogue reached a poignant peak when Dr. Filenko improvised on ‘Shchedryk’ by Mykola Leontovych—globally known as Carol of the Bells, yet unmistakably Ukrainian in origin. Reimagined through jazz improvisation, the piece became both familiar and startlingly new, carrying echoes of history while speaking fluently in the present tense.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Dr. Filenko described the evening as “a note of freedom and compassion.” “At some point in history, nearly every culture has experienced the suppression of artistic expression,” he said. “Yet beyond stylistic or regional differences, our shared human connection becomes evident—especially through the blending of genres.”
He spoke of how the fusion of jazz with Ukrainian music and classical traditions opens new perspectives—connecting ideas associated with Mykola Lysenko’s legacy, resonances of composers such as Dmytro Bortniansky and even Joseph Haydn, while remaining grounded in Ukrainian historical experience. “It was a deeply layered presentation of cultural identity,” he added, “one that shows how cultural expression, despite its diversity, carries values that are universally shared.”
Rabitsch echoed that sentiment from the stage, speaking directly of her connection with the Delhi audience. “We enjoyed it very much to connect with the Delhi audience in the Austrian Embassy,” she said. “It was a great pleasure to perform our original compositions of jazz spiced up with a touch of world music. It is so lovely that music is able to speak to people, no matter what language they speak or where they live—a universal language that goes straight to the heart.”
The conversation, importantly, did not end at the Embassy gates. The ensemble presented a scintillating follow-up performance at The Piano Man, Gurgaon on December 28, and the next stop is The Piano Man, Eldeco Centre, on January 5, carrying this Austrian–Ukrainian musical dialogue to wider audiences in a more intimate, club setting.
For Michael Pal, the evening reaffirmed why cultural exchange matters now more than ever. “It is always a privilege to work with such professional artists and to be hosted in a community of music lovers here in vibrant Delhi,” he said. “Through jazz and literature, we make distances short while feeling the vibes of understanding and appreciation for our cultures. I invite you to join us at the Piano Man, New Delhi World Book Fair, and the Jaipur Literature Festival.”
In an age of noise and division, this concert offered something quietly radical: listening. Listening across cultures, across histories, across genres. And in doing so, it reminded Delhi—and perhaps all of us—that when jazz meets classical music, and when Austria meets Ukraine, what emerges is not fusion for its own sake, but understanding, played one note at a time.