Toronto concert to commemorate anniversary of Chornobyl disaster (03/24/96)

Toronto concert to commemorate anniversary of Chornobyl disaster

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - The oratorio "Sacred Dnipro," composed by Valeriy Kikta with libretto by Sofia Majdanska, will form the central part of the program for the Chornobyl memorial concert in Toronto. The concert is being presented by the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association and will feature the Lysenko Opera Chorus of Toronto, the Dnipro Choir of Edmonton and members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

"Sacred Dnipro" was commissioned by the Dnipro Choir of Edmonton and given its world premiere in 1993. Mr. Kikta, who lives in Kyiv, was born in 1941 in Donetske Oblast and was a student and protegé of the noted Ukrainian composer Stanislav Liudkevych.

The Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association noted in a press release: "The main traits of his style are a clear melodism, individual harmonic language, rhythmic inventiveness and masterful instrumentation. Steeped in classical principles, Kikta incorporates contemporary compositional techniques with good taste and uses them for his artistic ends."

The librettist, Ms. Majdanska, is a graduate of the Lviv Conservatory of Music. She began to write poetry as a student and has had many works published in Ukraine. She has written libretto and scripts for special celebrations such as the Chervona Ruta Festival (1989) and the Zolotyi Homin poetry festival (1990) held in Kyiv.

The libretto for "Sacred Dnipro" is called an "oratorio-chronicle in 11 parts" and presents the sweep of Ukrainian history around the central theme of the Dnipro River. In outlining her subject, Ms. Majdanska writes, "Dnipro - the eternal river, the eternal book through whose pages, year after year, century after century, flows our history...We - Slavs, Ukrainians - came here and stayed by the Dnipro because it was here that we found the pure bottomless source of life, wisdom and power; here we became conscious of ourselves as a people, as a nation. Without the Dnipro, we as a nation would not exist and neither would Ukraine."

Ms. Majdanska quotes an 18th century French traveler who said that Ukraine, a land of milk and honey, attracted everyone like a magnet attracts iron. Yet, notes the poet, the magnetic power of Ukraine has also proved to be the source of the country's tragedies as it attracted the death-bearing iron swords of the horde, the cannons of both Poles and Russians, and the machine guns of the Soviets.

The 11 parts of the oratorio are united by the development of the main theme - that of the sacred river Dnipro - the spiritual symbol of the nation. Each part of the oratorio deals with a different era in Ukrainian history and speaks in the language of the time. The author uses quotes from contemporary works, such as the chronicle "Litopys Ruskyi" and the epic poem "Slovo o Polku Ihorevi." She begins the work with a quote in Latin from Teofan Prokopovych's "Ode to Dnipro," ending it with the same excerpt in Ukrainian.

Appearing throughout the oratorio is the heroine, our contemporary, who, writes Ms. Majdanska, "is not there to comment on the historical events nor to judge them. She longs to immerse herself, as a living drop of water, into the eternal flow of the river and to experience with her nation everything from the very beginning."

The memorial concert will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Lysenko Opera Chorus. Founded in 1974 as the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Choir, the choir changed its name to the Lysenko Opera Chorus in 1990. One of the founders of the choir, and its conductor from the beginning, is Volodymyr Kolesnyk.

The first work staged by the choir, in December 1975, was Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's "Zaporozhian Kozak Beyond the Danube." Since then, the choir has been one of the most important factors of Ukrainian musical culture in North America and has brought many masterpieces of Ukrainian music to its audiences.

The Opera Choir presented the North American premieres of Anatole Vachnianyn's opera "Kupalo" (1979) and Dmytro Bortniansky's opera "Alkides" (1992) as well as the world premiere of Denys Sichynsky's "Roxolana" (presented in concert in 1991).

The Opera Choir took part in the inaugural concert of Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in 1982, staging the North American premiere of Liudkevych's symphony-cantata "The Caucasus" and the world premiere of Canadian composer George Fiala's Symphony No. 4 "The Ukrainian Symphony." Both these works were also presented in 1984 at New York's Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra to mark the 90th anniversary of the Ukrainian National Association.

In addition to its many appearances in Toronto and other Canadian cities - Ottawa, Hamilton, Montreal - and its two appearances in Carnegie Hall (the second was in 1981), the choir has traveled to Illinois (Chicago Lyric Opera theater in 1984 and Orchestra Hall in 1988), Ohio and Michigan.

The Opera Choir has taken part in several gala Ukrainian celebrations, such as the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, staging the world premiere of George Fiala's Cantata for Piano and Choir at the Millennium Concert held in November 1987.

The Chornobyl Memorial Concert is being staged by the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association under the sponsorship of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee and will be held on Sunday, April 28, at 3 p.m. at Massey Hall in Toronto.

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