Marika Kuzma

Music director and producer Marika Kuzma has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a conductor, music scholar, and actor. She has led choirs and orchestras in repertoire spanning medieval chant to world premieres. She taught University of California, Berkeley, for decades, where she led its University Chorus and Chamber Chorus. Her student choirs appeared in prestigious venues including Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and the Mohyla Academy in Kyiv. As a chorus master, she has collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, and others. At Zellerbach Hall, she often prepared choirs for concerts of the Berkeley Symphony and productions of the Mark Morris Dance Group. In 2024, she collaborated with Keri-Lynn Wilson in concerts at Zankel Hall with the Kyiv Camerata and the Kennedy Center with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. Of Ukrainian descent, she has written articles and given talks on Ukrainian music in esteemed journals and at leading universities. Her critical edition of Bortniansky choral concertos (Carus), recording of the concertos (Naxos), and her recent book Carols of Birds, Bells, and Sacred Hymns from Ukraine (Cambridge Scholars Printing) have become key resources for choral musicians internationally. As an actor, she has appeared onstage at Berkeley Rep, Marin Shakespeare, and La MaMa in New York City. Kuzma’s final Christmas concert with the UC Berkeley choirs at Hertz Hall in 2015 featured Ukrainian carols. Ten years later, and with deepened appreciation of her native culture, she is honored to return to Berkeley and share this program. marikakuzmamusician.com.