1995: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: The cultural season: diversity is the rule (12/31/95)

1995: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The cultural season: diversity is the rule

The 1995 cultural season was marked by general diversity, with no one area claiming prominence. Among the highlights of the season in the U.S. and Canada were the following:

ART

This year marked the 10th anniversary of the passing of Jacques Hnizdovsky (1915-1985), a man whose creative endeavors were unique in their expression and universal in their appeal. Among the commemorative exhibitions held throughout the year were the following: Ukrainian Institute of America, New York; Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago; Mount Olive College, North Carolina; Mayana Gallery, New York; The Ukrainian Museum, New York; and The Slavic Department at The New York Public Library. The United States Information Agency in Kyiv sponsored a traveling exhibit of graphic works, which opened in November and will tour Ukraine for one year.
Another leading artist of the Lviv inter-war generation, Mychajlo Moroz (1904-1992 ), was fittingly commemorated with the appearance of a monograph chronicling his extensive oeuvre. The bilingual work, a publication of the Art Museum of La Salle University in Philadelphia, was presented at an evening at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York on May 19.
A retrospective exhibit honoring the late Sviatoslav Hordynsky, yet another leading member of the same generation, was held at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York , November 11-19.
A small step was taken to rectify the commonly held perception of Alexander Archipenko as Russian when the Hirshhorn Museum corrected the nameplates identifying the artist as Ukrainian-born. The sculptures, which are installed at the museum, date from Archipenko's early Paris period.
"Treasures of a Forgotten Country," an exhibit featuring the works of 22 Ukrainian contemporary artists from Kyiv was on view at the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, April 7-May 4. The exhibit was curated by Sergei Zholobetsky of Ukrainian Fine Art whose avowed mission is to promote the artistic talent of Ukraine. The art exhibit was held as part of the festival of Soviet cinema of the glasnost era. Among Ukraine's entries were films by director Kira Muratova and A. Zagdansky.
In keeping with The Ukrainian Museum's focus on Ukraine's ethnographic heritage, the following exhibits were held in New York: "Pysanky, Ukrainian Easter Eggs and Ritual Breads" and "Traditional Ukrainian Costumes, Headdresses and Adornments" which were on view March 25 -December 31, and "Changeless Carpathians: Living Traditions of the Hutsul People," October 21-November 30.
The book jacket of "Sixty Score of Easter Eggs" by Zenon Elyjiw of Rochester, N.Y., received first prize in the Printing Week 95 competition for printing excellence.

FILM

The film "Assassination," directed by Oles Yanchuk ("Famine-33"), premiered in Kyiv at the Budynok Kino on November 11 and was attended by prominent Ukrainian politicians and intellectuals. The film portrays the post-World War II struggle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the events leading up to the assassination of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, countering the customary Soviet representation of the Ukrainian liberation movement as consisting of collaboration and banditry.
"Memories from Mittenwald, 1946-1949," produced by Dr. Ostap Wynnyckyj of Etobicoke, Ontario, provided a visual record of life in one of the four major Ukrainian DP (displaced persons) camps in American-occupied Bavaria at the end of World War II. The video documents the refugee experience, focusing on the establishment of socio-cultural structures which have come to be generally recognized as incubators for the formation of Ukrainian diaspora communities.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photos from Ukraine were part of an international women's rights exhibit shown in September at the the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the NGO Forum in Huairou, China, and at Ottawa's Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. The photos, by Iva Zimova, focused on the economic hardship and the struggle for survival faced by women in Ukraine.

THEATER

The year marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of leading Ukrainian stage actor and director Yosyp Hirniak (1895-1989).
The Yara Arts Group continued to be in the forefront of theatrical activity. This year Yara staged "Waterfall/Reflections," which premiered in Kyiv's Dakh Center on January 8 and in New York at La MaMa Experimental Theater Company on January 27. It was also performed at the Molodizhnyi Teater in Kyiv as part of the fourth Art Berezillia festival held March 27-April 27. The work was created by founding director Virlana Tkacz in collaboration with group members and Nina Matvienko, Ukraine's leading folk singer.
"Spinning Spells/Changing Landscapes," was another Yara Arts Group's event, held in New York at the Ukrainian Institute of America on March 18. The evening featured poetry readings and an exhibit of photography by Petro Hrytsyk, Margaret Morton, Thaya Salamacha and David Trattles.
Bohdan Stupka, leading stage and film actor of Ukraine, principal of the Ivan Franko Dramatic Theater in Kyiv and actress Svitlana Vatamaniuk of the Molodizhnyj Teater, appeared in the U.S. performance of "Dear Liar," a play based on the work and correspondence of George Bernard Shaw, as adapted and directed by Valentyn Kozmenko Delinde. The play opened at the UNA estate Soyuzivka in August and went on tour of major Ukrainian communities through October 19.

MUSIC

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Borys Liatoshynsky (1895-1968), composer, conductor, professor and founder of an entire school in modern Ukrainian classical music.
Theodor Kuchar, 34-year-old American conductor of Ukrainian descent, was appointed to the post of artistic and general director of the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra in Kyiv on February 15. In his capacity as artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Mr. Kuchar became the first winner of the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines "Bridging the World" contest. The award-winning project was implemented in Ukraine in June whereupon eminent Western musicians visited Kyiv to present a condensed version of the annual festival and to conduct masterclasses at the conservatory.
The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Hobart Earle (an American who in 1994 became the first foreigner to be named a "Distinguished Artist of Ukraine"), performed to critical acclaim at the Festival of Perth in Australia in February. In December the orchestra released a compact disc - "Music of Ukraine" on the British record label ASV. The first in a series of recordings showcasing orchestral music of living Ukrainian composers, the CD features music by Mykola Kolessa and Myroslav Skoryk.
Singers from Ukraine appeared in principal roles in New York opera productions. Vladimir Grishko, the leading tenor of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera, appeared with the New York City Opera in Puccini's "La Rondine" and in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" as well as with the Metropolitan Opera in Verdi's "La Traviata" and in Puccini's "La Bohème." Leading soprano Maria Guleghina appeared in the role of Lisa in Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades," at the Metropolitan Opera on December 27 and 30.
The Byzantine Choir of Utrecht, Holland, known for its repertoire of Eastern Rite Old Church Slavonic and Ukrainian sacred music, launched its 45th anniversary season with a tour of eastern Canada in October. The ensemble is under the direction of Grigori S. Sarolea.
On the Ukrainian pop music scene, Darka and Slavko, the New York-based vocal duo, released their new CD recording "Believe" early this summer. Fourteen musicians, most of them professional session players from London, and a gospel choir contributed to the project. The duo made its first major New York apearance at Town Hall on July 5 at the concert of the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Company.

DANCE

Edmonton's 50-member Ukrainian Shumka Dancers, under the direction of John Pichlyk, undertook a Canadian tour in February-April, presenting their first new show in three years - "Absolutely Shumka," with the sponsorship of Royal Bank.
Ukraine's National Ballet (a.k.a. the Taras Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Theater of Ukraine) appeared at the famed Spoleto Festival U.S.A. held at the end of May in Charleston, S.C., where it gave performances of "Swan Lake" and the premier of "Lisova Pisnia." Under the direction of Anatoliy Mokrenko and Anatoliy Chikeero, ballet master, the troupe has performed extensively throughout Europe, and has performed at the Strasbourg Festival for the second year. At the end of May it gave performances in Japan, China, and Singapore. The troupe also presented the opera, "Anna Yaroslavna" with music by Anton Rudnytsky and libretto by Leonid Poltava, in Ukraine and subsequently in France this fall. In November two other Ukrainian ballets were premiered: "Frescoes of Kyiv's Sofia" and "Volodymyr the Christianizer," with musical score by Valerij Kikta.

ARCHITECTURE

Ukrainian churches designed by Radoslav Zuk and Ukrainian architecture of the Canadian prairies were the two Ukrainian contributions highlighted in Harold Kalman's "A History of Canadian Architecture." Prof. Zuk's designs of Ukrainian churches, which have earned him international recognition, were most recently exhibited in Italy at the University of Florence School of Architecture , May 16-20.
The Ukrainian Museum in New York City selected George Sawicki, partner in the New York firm Greenfield, Sawicki, Tarella, Architects, P.C., as the architect to develop the project of renovating and converting an existing museum-owned commercial building into a museum facility.
St. Onufrius Ukrainian Catholic Church in Smokey Lake, Alberta, which was built in 1915, with the capacity to hold 20 people in its two pews, and was closed in 1965, was installed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec on June 12, as a prototype of the early Ukrainian churches built in the Canadian Prairies.

LITERATURE

The 1995 Pavlo Tychyna Literary Prize was awarded to Toronto writer Lydia Palij, for her book of poems "Son-Kraina" (Dream-Realm), and to Ukrainian poet Oleksa Riznychenko.
This year's laureates of the Shevchenko Prize, Ukraine's highest award,were: composer Valentyn Sylvestrov, writer Yevhen Sverstiuk, artist Opanas Zalyvakha, writer Roman Fedoriv, illustrator/artist Leonid Andrievsky, and operatic bass Mykola Shopsha. The award was posthumously conferred on dissident writer and poet Vasyl Symonenko, painter Valentyn Zadorozzhny, art historian Vira Svientsitska, writer/editor Vasyl Otkovych and dissident writer/translator Hryhoriy Kochur. Ukrainian Canadian artist Mykola Bidniak was cited for his series of portraits of Ukrainian historical figures and icons.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the dissident poet Vasyl Stus (1938-1985). A project has been initiated by the poet's son, Dmytro, to organize his father's archive and to publish his writings under the auspices of the Institute of Literature in Kyiv. The first volume, containing Stus' early poems, was published in 1994. A total of seven volumes in 10 books has been planned, which accounts for 70 percent of Stus' writings.

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The Weekly's coverage of cultural activity in Ukraine focused primarily on various festivals in the field of theater, music, film and culture.

Kyiv's fourth annual experimental theater festival - Art Berezillia - took place March 27-April 27, attracting drama troupes from Belgium, England, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, and the U.S., as well as most major Ukrainian cities. The festival brought together some 1,500 theater professionals who performed before approximately 18,000 audience members at 16 performance venues and three outdoor events. The event was initiated and organized by Sergei Proskurnia, director of Kyiv's Budmo theater.
New sounds in contemporary Ukrainian music - in the categories of pop/rock, folk/bard, rap and dance - were heard at the Chervona Ruta festival, held May 12 - June 4 in the Crimea, in the main squares of Sevastopil and Symferopil and on Black Sea Fleet ships. The festival set new records, bringing together 250,000 music fans to hear 352 Ukrainian-language songs, performed by 310 musicians from every one of Ukraine's 25 regions, and providing 105 hours of music. As in past years, Russian-speaking cities were chosen as festival sites to make youth aware of Ukrainian culture.
The first Ukrainian cinema actors' festival - Stozhary -was held in Kyiv on August 22-28. Some 20 films made since 1993 were screened and evaluated by a jury made up of Latvian, Ukrainian and Russian screen and theater personalities. Best actress award went to Inna Kapinos for her role in the film "Vyshnevi Nochi"; the grand prize for best actor was awarded to two actors: Heorhiy Drozd for his role in "Vinchannia zi Smertiu" and Oleksander Peskov for his role in "American Boy."

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The state of the arts and Ukrainian culture in general were issues addressed by a one-day Congress of the Ukrainian Intelligentsia, chaired by writer Ivan Drach. The congress assembled over 2,000 delegates and guests on November 11 in Kyiv, establishing a forum to discuss the status of the Ukrainian language, the state of Ukrainian culture, as well as the continued controlling effect of both the Russian language and culture. Congress delegates criticized the Ukrainian government for failing to adequately address these issues.

Ukraine was represented at the conference "The Spoils of War," held at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts in New York on January 19-21. The conference focused on the problems of identifying over-all losses of cultural treasures incurred during the second world war and the return of expropriated cultural property to the states of original ownership. Oleksander Fedoruk, chairman of the National Commission for the Return of Cultural Treasures to Ukraine, presented a partial list of cultural artifacts lost or stolen during the war, thus underscoring the immense losses to museums, archives and libraries in Ukraine.

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