1992: A LOOK BACK: The cultural/arts scene (12/27/92)

1992: A LOOK BACK

The cultural/arts scene

Four large-scale exhibitions were planned as part of centennial celebrations of Ukrainian settlement in Canada.

The largest exhibit, "Art and Ethnicity: The Ukrainian Tradition in Canada," opened at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec, in August 1991 and runs through February 1993. On display is the work of over 100 Ukrainian Canadian artists and artisans that portray various aspects of immigration, religion, folklore and art.

A 20-painting exhibit of William Kurelek, "the most published and written about artist in Canada," is on display at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from October to January 3. The National Gallery organized various special events surrounding the exhibit, including lectures in English and Ukrainian, and a film series on Kurelek and his work.

A traveling exhibit "Spirit of Ukraine - 500 Years of Ukrainian Painting," organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, opened in Winnipeg in August 1991, followed by a show at the Edmonton Art Gallery, closing at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in June 1992. The exhibit, which drew record numbers of viewers as well as wide acclaim, featured more than 130 paintings on loan from the State Museum of Ukrainian Art in Kiev, spanning five centuries of Ukrainian art from 15th century icons to 20th century avant-garde paintings.

Another significant upcoming exhibit to be held in three Canadian museums is the "Treasures of Ukraine," scheduled to open in the fall of 1993. The exhibit will deal with a longer time period - from archeological prehistory to the 19th century - and will include mostly artifacts such as Trypillian pottery, Scythian gold and weapons, items from Kievan Rus', Kozak weapons, commissioned religious works and manuscripts.

According to art historian Dr. Daria Darewych, who headed the curatorial team, the significance of both exhibits lies in the fact that as they display not folk art but the fine art and cultural achievements of Ukrainians through the ages "they alter the way Ukrainians in Canada think of themselves and the population at large thinks of Ukraine."

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In Ukraine, President Leonid Kravchuk pressed for the return of cultural property from Russia. Among the reclaimed Ukrainian art treasures are: the oldest surviving icon from Kiev - the 12th century Our Lady of Vyshorod, and three other Kievan icons (the Great Panagia, St. Demetrius of Thessalonica and The Mother of God of the Caves, and 11th century mosaics formerly in the Sobor of St. Michael in Kiev (destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1935-1936), all presently in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow; Scythian gold excavated around the Black Sea, now at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg; and objects of historical interest such as the ceremonial staff of Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

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An exhibition of political posters and cartoons from Ukraine opened at The Ukrainian Museum in New York, March 1-15. The posters on exhibit were created by the Kiev group "Youthful Poster Lapas," comprising a group of young artists from the Kiev Art School who started their work about three years ago. The 13th annual International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront was held in Toronto October 14 to 24. Among the 80 novelists, poets, playwrights and biographers invited to read at "the world's largest literary celebration," was the Ukrainian poet Mykola Vorobiov, the fourth poet from Ukraine to appear at the annual festival. In the past three years, Ukrainian poets Vasyl Holoborodko, Ihor Kalynets and Ivan Drach read their works at the international event.

The performing arts

A retrospective concert devoted to the music of Leonid Hrabovsky, featuring the acclaimed 20th century new music ensemble, Continuum, was held at Alice Tully Hall in New York on February 29. The Ukrainian composer, a central figure of the Soviet avant-garde, is known for his persistent demands for artistic freedom, an amazing diversity in style and a reputation for being "the most adventurous, outrageous and, at the same time, most interested in formal experimentation."

The Third Ukrainian International Music Festival - Kiev Music Fest 92, co-directed by Ivan Karabyts and Virko Baley, was held October 3-10. The festival featured classical and contemporary works ranging from pop and youthful music to chamber concerts and symphonic events, performed by chamber ensembles, symphonic orchestras, choirs and soloists from Ukraine and throughout the world. A good portion of the festival was devoted to music by Ukrainian composers. The opening concert featured Ivan Karabyts' "Molytva Kateryny," a work dedicated to the Great Famine of 1933. One of the main events of the festival was the Iwanna and Marian Kots Composition Competition.

A concert to benefit The Ukrainian Museum in New York was held on November 29 at the Merkin Concert Hall. The concert featured a stellar cast of artists including cellist Natalia Khoma, soprano Oksana Krovytska, pianist Laryssa Krupa, violinist Oleh Krysa, the Leontovich String Quartet, pianists Alexander Slobodyanyk, Mykola Suk, Volodymyr Vynnytsky and tenor Roman Tsymbala, with Tatiana Tchekina, Maria Tsymbala and Mr. Vynnytsky piano accompaniment.

The Dumka Ukrainian State Choir of Kiev, a truly world-class chorus under the direction of Yevhen Savchuk, featuring soloists of the Kiev, Lviv and Odessa Opera Houses premiered at Newark's Symphony Hall on December 14 as it began a tour of U.S. and Canadian cities. (See section on the UNA.)

A young couple from Kiev, Valentyn Lysytsia and Olexiy Kuznietsov, who last year won first prize to great acclaim in the prestigious Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami have returned to the U.S. to study with the renowned pianist Alexander Toradze at the University of Indiana, South Bend, and to concertize throughout the U.S.

Il primo basso, Paul Plishka, the American-born opera star of Ukrainian heritage, celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Metropolitan Opera of New York with a debut in the role of Verdi's Falstaff, yet another bass role added to his repertoire. Mr. Plishka is the only singer in the opera company's history to have played all three bass roles in "Boris Godunov" - Pimen, Varlaam and Boris.

The Ukrainian bass Alexander Savtchenko, presently residing in Montreal, was one of the winners in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's prestigious Pavarotti International Voice Competition this fall.

The young Ukrainian baritone Andriy Shkurhan sang the title role in "King Roger," the work of the renowned Ukrainian-born Polish composer Karol Szymanowski at the Michigan Opera Theater in May. Mr. Shkurhan, an acclaimed performer of Polish song has been performing is Teatr Wielki of Lodz, Poland, since the summer of 1991.

Jurij Onuch, one of the few, if not the only Ukrainian performance artist took part, along with other 34 invited artists from Canada, the U.S. and Europe, in "Interzone," the seventh biannual festival of experimental art, held October 20-25 in Quebec City. Mr. Onuch, who presently resides in Canada, was an active member of the Polish avant-garde of the 1980s. A proud "promoter of Ukrainianism" since 1981, Mr. Onuch has interested Polish cultural authorities to sponsor a major exhibit of "Contemporary Ukrainian Art," which is scheduled to open in Poland next fall, with subsequent shows in professional art centers and galleries in Europe.

The Yara Arts Group, headed by Virlana Tkacz and based at La Mama Theater in New York, held an art exhibit and poetry reading at the Ukrainian Institute of America on May 9 to benefit the group's trip to Ukraine, where they staged their second production, "Explosions," at the first Berezil International Theater Festival in Kharkiv in September.

Vika, the dynamic, original and fiercely individualistic rock star from Lviv was on her first tour of the U.S. with the six-member Vika rock group this summer. Having made her mark at the 1989 Chervona Ruta Festival in Chernivtsi with her unorthodox look, she turned Ukrainian youth on to Ukrainian history and such contemporary issues as Chornobyl and Russification. Her diversified repertoire, rooted in Ukrainian folk music, also incorporates the Ukrainization of popular American hits of the 60's. She was crowned "Miss Rock of Europe" in February at a festival in Kiev. Among the members of the group, all professional musicians, are Volodymyr Bebeshko, her husband, composer, musical arranger and manager, and Leontiy Bebeshko, a.k.a. Levko Durko, who shared the bill with Vika during the U.S. tour with his satirical songs.

Among the notable film and video productions of the year were:

Ukraine: Third Journey to Independence," by Luba Dmytryk, a one-hour documentary video, offering a compilation of the major events in Ukraine in the last few years, with reconstructed flashbacks into Ukrainian history - all the way back to Kievan Rus', which give an excellent historical background to contemporary events.
"Raspad," a feature movie about Chornobyl, directed by Mikhail Belikov, a native of Kharkiv and resident of Kiev, and produced by Peter O. Almond, an independent producer and screenwriter who helped it acquire international distribution and acclaim.
"Famine-33," the first documentary film to be made in Ukraine on the subject, was screened by its director, Oles Yanchuk, at film festivals, to prospective distributions and in Ukrainian communities in the U.S. and Canada. A production of the Dovzhenko Studios, the film won first prize at the 1991 first all-Ukrainian Kiev Film Festival.
"Oxygen Starvation," directed by the young Ukrainian director, Andriy Donchyk, is a Ukrainian-Canadian co-production of Toronto's Kobza International Corp. and Victory FF from Ukraine. The film portrays the progressive demoralization of a young Ukrainian recruit undergoing obligatory military training.

The New York-based Syzokryli Dance Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Roma Pryma Bohachevsky performed in a concert tour throughout Ukraine from June 22 to July 3. The program was conceived and choreographed by Ms. Bohachevsky, using a contemporary interpretative style as well as composed music rather than traditional folk melodies.

Lydia Krushelnytsky's Ukrainian Stage Ensemble of New York staged Mykola Kulish's "Sonata Pathetique" at Pace University on November 21-22, in celebration of the centenary of the playwright's birth. The play, which explores the central issues of revolution and nationalism, was banned in Ukraine and made its original debut in 1931 in Moscow in the Russian language. The play and its author were subsequently banned. Distorted versions were staged in Ukraine in the 1950s and 1960s.

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