The most influential French centre of contemporary musical composition Royaumont Foundation invited Shmurak for a 6-month residency. February-July 2026.
Fondation Royaumont — the most influential French centre of contemporary musical composition, founded by Henri Goüin in 1964 in the historic 13th-century Cistercian abbey in Val-d'Oise department (40 km north of Paris) — announced on 14 January 2026 a 6-month composer residency for Oleksii Shmurak from 1 February to 31 July 2026. This is Royaumont's first-ever Ukrainian resident. Residency tasks: 1) Creating a new work 'Carpathian Cycles' (duration 35 minutes) for chamber ensemble (10 musicians) — world premiere 22 June 2026 at Royaumont; 2) 8 public lectures on contemporary Ukrainian composition at Centre de la Voix (Royaumont voice centre); 3) Co-curatorship of 'Voices of Eastern Europe' series (5 concerts over 6 months); 4) Masterclasses with 12 young European composers. Besides the main residency, Shmurak will participate in a special conference 'Music After War: Eastern Perspectives' on 18 May 2026 at Royaumont (with participation of Oleksii Liubomudrov, Serhiy Zhadan via video link, and 4 other European composer-researchers). The conference will be recorded for online access through Royaumont's official YouTube channel. Shmurak's residency fee (€32000) is fully transferred to the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation for support of young composers.
