September 12, on City Day, a gala concert of the winners of the open multi-genre contest “City of Our Love” took place at the Mykolaiv concert hall “Yunist”. The event was organized with the support of the Department of Culture and Arts of the Mykolaiv City Council.
The top prize — the Grand Prix “City of Our Love — 2026” — was won by the soloist of the vocal studio “Golden voice” of the Matviivka House of Culture, Olivia Tkachyk. She won with the original song “Come Back”. Previously the performer took part in the national selection for Junior “Eurovision 2025”.
The concert program was opened by the exemplary contemporary dance ensemble “Pasadena” of the Regional Palace of Culture, led by Kateryna Alekseeva. Participants and guests were greeted by the mayor Oleksandr Senkevych and the head of the Department of Culture and Arts of the Mykolaiv City Council, Yurii Liubarov.
This year the contest brought together around 150 participants. They presented more than 120 works in various genres. The winners were judged by a jury composed of:
- Denis Akmanov — director of the Regional Palace of Culture, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine, holder of the Honorary badge “For Services to the City of Mykolaiv”;
- Olena Liashko — director of the Children’s Music School No. 1 of Mykolaiv;
- Valentyna Kryvtsova — head of the methodological support sector for the socio-cultural activities of libraries at the M. L. Kropyvnytskyi Central City Library, head of the public organization “Cultural and Artistic Association ‘Art-spokusa’”, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine.
The jury members presented the winners with diplomas and certificates in various nominations. The gala concert featured students and creative teams from Mykolaiv cultural institutions:
- ensemble “Pasadena”;
- vocal studio “Golden voice”;
- exemplary vocal studio “Talent”;
- solo singing club “Prestige”;
- vocal studio “Edelweiss” with dance accompaniment by the collective “Maximum”;
- duet “Mriya”;
- folk pop vocal studio “LU-STARS”;
- dance ensemble “Karamelky”;
- folk dance ensemble “Surprise”.
Solo performers also presented their own numbers on stage:
- Anastasiia Bratashchuk — the Grand Prix winner of the 2025 contest, who performed together with the dance collective of the Mykolaiv Professional College of Culture and Arts;
- Evelina Azadova;
- Oleksandra Horshkova;
- Sofia Loboda;
- Marianna Mazur;
- Maksym Shklyarov;
- Sofia Hutsalyuk;
- Oleksandr Tomchuk.
Earlier we wrote:
- Music instead of mass celebrations: a special trolleybus launched in Mykolaiv
- “Born to Win”: an international arts festival took place in Mykolaiv
- You still haven’t said what you love about Mykolaiv? Time is running out — the contest ends August 29!
- Olivia Tkachyk is heading to the stars: Matviivka will be heard across the country!
- Mykolaiv residents are invited to showcase their talents in the contest
