Livonia Symphony achieves unique status in Michigan and among Ukrainians (10/11/98)

Livonia Symphony achieves unique status in Michigan and among Ukrainians

LIVONIA, Mich. - The Livonia Symphony Orchestra, with Volodymyr Schesiuk as the symphony's music director and conductor, has achieved a unique status in the greater Detroit area as well as the Ukrainian community in terms of musicians, concert programs and audience attendance.

Indeed, a highlight of the orchestra's 1997-1998 season was a concert celebrating Ukraine's musical heritage.

Now in its 26th season, the LSO was founded by Francisco Di Blasi, at present, conductor emeritus. Robert Bennett, former mayor of Livonia, serves as LSO president.

Maestro Schesiuk, who emigrated from Ukraine to the U.S. in 1991, is in his fourth year as conductor of the orchestra, with Carl Karoub, serving as assistant conductor.

Maestro Schesiuk holds degrees in violin performance, and opera and symphony conducting from the Lviv Conservatory, where he studied with Yuri Lutsiv and was later professor. He has served as conductor-in-residence of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and was chief conductor of the Kyrgyzstan State Opera and Ballet.

The LSO performs music from both the classical and popular repertoire. The orchestra performs regular concerts, as well as special events.

Last year in September, the LSO made its first appearance at the prestigious Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall in a concert featuring the renowned Azerbaijani sopranos Huraman and Fidan Kasimov, winners of The Maria Callas and The Viotti competitions, respectively; and baritone Dino Valle.

Among LSO concerts performed this year were the Good Friday concert held April 10, featuring among other works, J. Rutter's "Requiem" with the St. Genevieve Interdenominational Festival Choir under the direction of Laverne Lieberknecht. The concert, with a capacity audience of 1,400 in attendance, was televised, as are the majority of LSO concerts.

Among this season's special guest artists will be such acclaimed musicians as cellist Vagram Saradjian, who will perform on January 23, 1999, and violinists Yuri and Dana Mazurkevych, who will perform both as soloists and as a duo on May 15, 1999.

The LSO is composed of some 75 musicians. The orchestra's concertmaster until this season was Xian Gao, originally from China, a laureate of numerous international competitions. Due to his recent engagements as soloist throughout the world, he has been replaced in this position by Kathy Ferris. Mr. Gao has expressed interest in performing in Ukraine.

Among LSO members are musicians who have joined the orchestra from other orchestras, among them, recent arrivals from Ukraine (formerly with the Dnipropetrovsk Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as graduates of the Kyiv Conservatory). Orchestra members also include semi-professional musicians, among them principal bassoonist James Poe, an executive at the Ford Co.; principal flutist Robynn Rhodes, a model for Chrysler; and principal trumpeter Brian Moon, a professor at Madonna University.

Celebrating Ukraine's musical heritage

The LSO celebrated the music of Ukraine in the final concert of its 1997-1998 season, which was held at the James P. Carli Auditorium in Livonia on May 30.

Commenting on the event, Mr. Bennett noted: "It was a very exciting event ... exciting music, much of which isn't heard here" (in the U.S.). He went on to say that the concert was very well attended and that it was well supported by the Ukrainian community, which raised funds to underwrite the cost of the concert and publicized it in various organs serving the Ukrainian community. Overall, it was "a great experience for all of us connected with the symphony," said Mr. Bennett. The concert was followed by a reception at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Warren.

Guest performers at the concert were pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky, mezzo-soprano Christina Lypecky, baritone Jerome Cisaruk and narrator Marko Farion.

Titled "Mountains, Valleys and Steppes," the program presented music that, for the most part, draws on legends and lore of the steppes and the Carpathian Mountains and pays tribute to the beauty of the natural landscape.

The concert program included: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Mr. Vynnytsky; Olexander Kozarenko's "Oresteia," with recitation by Marko Farion; Myroslav Skoryk's "Hutsul Images" from "Hutsul Triptych"; a duet from Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's opera "Kozak Beyond the Danube" sung by Ms. Lypecky and Mr. Cisaruk; and Levko Kolodub's "Holiday" from "Carpathian Rhapsody."

Guest performers

Mr. Vynnytsky, who is known for his fresh and penetrating readings of both new music and standard repertoire, performed brilliantly, with great vigor and intuition. Mr. Vynnytsky's performance of the well-known and oft-performed piano concerto was received with a standing ovation. As an encore he played Lev Revutsky's "Prelude" in D Flat Major.

Commenting on the performance, Christopher Tew, composer and violist who resides and works in Tennessee, noted that given the familiarity of the audience with the work, the audience could all the better appreciate the virtuosity of the pianist and the way the pianist and the orchestra worked together. Mr. Tew also noted that incorporating Tchaikovsky into the concert program "helped American audiences to realize that many composers whom we assume are Russian have a Ukrainian heritage."

Maestro Kozarenko's monodrama "Oresteia," with recitation by Marko Farion, according to Mr. Tew, was an "outstanding and stunning piece, and excellent theater." Mr. Tew pointed out that the work is based on the use of Greek tetrachords, going on to note that having the actor on stage reading from the text recalled the original nature of Greek drama. The music and the recitation "worked very well together," he said.

Mr. Tew found Maestro Skoryk's "Hutsul Images" most interesting and enjoyable from point of view of the use of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic characteristics of the musical language of Hutsul folklore.

In their duet, Ms. Lypecky and Mr. Cisaruk "used their talents superbly. Ms. Lypecky made excellent use of her fine voice and dramatic presentation in her highly sensitive performance. Mr. Cisaruk's colorful baritone sound never ceases to enchant an audience," noted Chrystyna Juzych, committee member. Mr. Tew characterized the duet as "very good ... rendered in the early- to middle-19th century style."

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Mr. Vynnytsky studied at the Lviv, and later at the Moscow, conservatories. Upon his return to Ukraine he taught at the Kyiv Conservatory and concertized extensively. Mr. Vynnytsky is the winner of the Margueritte Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris. Since his emigration to the U.S. in 1991, he has appeared in recitals and concerts throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Farion is a leading authority on Ukrainian minstrel and oral traditions He is a solist with the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and a member of the Detroit Concert Choir.

Ms. Lypecky has appeared with the Michigan Opera Company, Michigan Lyric Opera, Verdi Opera Company, as well as the Livonia, Warren, Dearborn, Pontiac and Bloomfield Hills Symphony orchestras.

Mr. Cisaruk is a member and featured baritone soloist of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus. He has appeared with the Schoolcraft Community Choir and LSO.

Composers

A proponent of modern music, Oleksander Kozarenko often uses Ancient Greek and Byzantine intonations in his compositions. Mr. Kozarenko was born in Kolomyia, Ukraine, in 1963; he studied at the Kyiv Conservatory and teaches at the Lysenko Music Institute in Lviv. He is a laureate of the Mykola Lysenko (1986) and the Lev Revutsky (1996) competitions. Among his major works are: "Chakona"; the symphonic work "Epistoly"; the chamber opera based on Ukrainian baroque poetry titled "Chas Pokayannyia"; the oratorio "Strasti Hospoda Boha Nashoho Isysa Khrysta"; the ballet "Don Zhuan z Kolomyyi"; and the monodrama "Oresteia"; as well compositions for chamber and instrumental music, voice, piano and the theater.

Myroslav Skoryk was born in Lviv in 1938. He studied at the Kyiv and Moscow conservatories. A former professor of composition at the Lviv and Kyiv conservatories, he is head of the Lviv branch of the Union of Ukrainian Composers. Although he works in various genres, he is known for his orchestral and chamber music written in the contemporary mode of expression, often using elements of Ukrainian folklore. The orchestral comoposition "Hutsul Images" is based on Skoryk's score for Sergei Paradzhanov's film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors."

The composer Levko Kolodub was born in Kyiv in 1930. A graduate of the Kharkiv Conservatory, he taught music theory at the Kyiv Institute of Theater Arts, and since 1966 has been teaching composition and instrumentation at the Kyiv Conservatory.

Semen Hulak-Artemovsky was born in 1813 in Horodysche, Kyiv gubernia, and died in Moscow in 1873. He studied voice in Florence, Italy, and was lead soloist at the Mariinskii Theater and the Italian Opera in St. Petersburg, The comic opera "Zaporozhets za Dunaiem," which is strongly influenced by Ukrainian folk songs, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1863 with the composer himself performing the title role. The opera has become one of the most popular Ukrainian operas and has been staged worldwide.

Acknowledgements

The concert celebrating the music of Ukraine was made possible thanks to LSO members, Mr. Bennett and the board of directors of the Livonia Symphony Society, Ivan Yuziuk, music director and conductor of the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, and Maestro Schesiuk.

The concert was sponsored in part by The Committee in Support of Ukraine's Musical Heritage of Metropolitan Detroit, whose executive committee is headed by Jaroslaw Duzyj; with Ihor Kozak, vice-chairman; and Stefan Fedenko, treasurer. Various Ukrainian community organizations and individual activists donated funds for the event.

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