DATELINE NEW YORK: Antiquity and artistry (06/02/96)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Antiquity and artistry

by Helen Smindak

Ancient Kyiv relics

Kyiv-born Ludmyla Pekarska is a woman with a mission. She would like to recover the first well-known find of valuable material treasures of Kyiv's princely era. Discovered in 1824, the cache of jewelry, articles of princely apparel and religious artifacts, decorated with polychrome enamel, niello work, filigree, pearls and precious stones, disappeared in the summer of 1825, mysteriously and completely.

The mystery, however, does not deter the petite blonde historian and archaeologist from the project at hand. She is at work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, providing documentation for hundreds of antique Ukrainian items previously identified as Russian.

Before coming to New York two months ago, she was engaged in similar activity for several months at the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities of the British Museum in London.

As the result of her work, some 400 Ukrainian relics will be shown next year in the Metropolitan Museum's "Glory of Byzantium" exhibit, in which 25 countries will participate.

Ms. Pekarska recently gave a talk at the Mayana Gallery on "Women in Staro-Kyivska Rus'," in which she described the lives of Princess Olha, the Byzantine Princess Anna and Prince Yaroslav Mudry's four daughters, each of whom married European monarchs.

On June 8, Ms. Pekarska will deliver an address on "Ancient Kyiv and Relics of the Kyivan State" at the Shevchenko Scientific Society, 63 Fourth Ave. in Manhattan. Her talk, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., will include some discussion of archeological digs in Kyiv and the relics unearthed there.

Ms. Pekarska is the head of the Department of Ancient and Medieval Kyiv at the National Museum of Ukraine. Her special field is the decorative arts of the 10th-13th centuries. She is the author of several publications on the treasures of Ukraine, and co-author (with Dafydd Kidd) of "Der Silberschatz von Martynovka (Ukraine) um dem 6. und 7. Jahrhundert," detailing an archeological find in the village of Martynivka near Kaniv.

Visual artistry

Severyn Barabakh, a young artist who came to New York from Lviv three years ago and is now studying at the elite LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, gave his first solo art exhibit in New York in May. The exhibit was held at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Fifth Avenue and 79th Street.

The artist showed a group of 25 pen-and-ink drawings, all finely detailed, depicting exotic marine life and land animals such as an anteater and an imaginary "anolkloon." There were also highly stylized drawings of bushes and an unusual abstract work titled "Window," which (to this viewer) resembled a network of brain cells and arteries.

Mr. Barabakh, who comes from a family of artists, participated in children's art exhibits in Ukraine. Here in New York, his work has been shown on several occasions at the LaGuardia High School gallery. In 1994, at age 15, he took part in a group exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.

In addition to pen-and-ink work, his artistic talents include painting in various techniques and sculpture. Interested in both modern and classical music, he has recently been drawn to cinematography and hopes to produce a film. Rounding out this portrait of an all-round student, he is also a member of his school's football team and is a member of the Ukrainian scouting association Plast.

Last month, the Ukrainian Institute of America also exhibited the work of two contemporary artists from Kyiv, painter Alexander Dubovyk and sculptor Evhen Prokopov. Currently on view is a group of paintings of Ukraine's princes and hetmans by Basil Diadyniuk, to mark the 50th anniversary of the artist's death. Opening this weekend, the Diadyniuk exhibit may be seen June 1 and 2, 2-6 p.m., and from June 3-9 by appointment (call the institute at 212-288-8660).

At The Ukrainian Museum, 203 Second Ave., the work of eight art students will be on display through the summer months. Organized by the museum and the Ukrainian National Women's League of America Branch 113, the exhibit includes paintings, sculptures, photographs and architectural projects. The work on display was chosen by a jury consisting of museum director Maria Shust, artist Ilona Sochynsky and Prof. Yaroslav Leshko. The students, now completing art studies, are represented in the exhibit by four or more works. Adriana O. Farmiga, Petro Lopata, Yuri Masnyj, Yarema Ronish, Nick Sawicki, Dorian Yurchuk and Tamara Zahaykewich are U.S. residents, while Andrey Poteryaylo lives in Ukraine. Exhibit hours are 1-5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

"Wayward Wind"

In recent months, we have witnessed the drama and excitement of experimental theater companies from Ukraine - the Les Kurbas Young Theater of Lviv, the Suziria Theater of Kyiv, and a foursome of barefoot student actors from Kharkiv, Natalia Tsymbal, Vadym Korobka, Dmytro Turkevych and Mykhailo Ozerov. The Kharkiv actors presented "Arabesques," a dialogue about the past, present and future, based on works of Mykola Khvyliovy, Vasyl Symonenko and Hryhoriy Skovoroda.

The New York-based Yara Arts Group took its turn on the boards in May with a stint at the La Mama Experimental Theater, and proved to be as spellbinding as its counterparts from Ukraine.

The beginnings of a new Yara Arts production, "Wayward Wind," took shape at the La Mama workshop on East First Street, where Yara members employed Buryat Mongolian myths and music to illuminate Oleh Lysheha's poem "Swan," written in Kyiv in 1994.

Interweaving texts of Buryat, Japanese, Ukrainian and American poetry, "Wayward Wind" examined the myths of nomads in the past and wanderers who sit at computers today.

Yara members intermingled movement, dance, chant, music and songs in a highly stylized form to create a production that audience members called "mesmerizing." Said one theater-goer: 'I felt I was swept up into the action, absolutely drawn into the maelstrom of movement."

Conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz, who founded the Yara company, the piece is the group's sixth original work based on Ukrainian material.

Buryat composer Vladilen Pantae, who worked with the company through the spring preparing the multilingual piece, took questions from the audience after the performance on May 18. His daughter, Irina, a New York fashion model, served as translator.

Designed by Watoku Ueno, with music by Mr. Pantaev and Obie Award-winning composer Genji Ito, "Wayward Wind" was produced with the assistance of Alex Kytasty (sound) and Roman Baratiak (projectionist), the only Ukrainians involved in this production besides Ms. Tkacz. Yara artists are of Asian, African, Eastern and Western European ethnic origins.

Ms. Tkacz, whose career is devoted to restoring the theatrical legacy of the famous Ukrainian director Les Kurbas, led the Yara group on a tour of Ukraine in 1990 with its first production, "A Light from the East." In 1994, the company collaborated with the Kurbas Young Theater of Lviv in creating a bilingual work called "Yara's Forest Song." Last season, the group developed "Waterfall/Reflections" in Kyiv in collaboration with the popular Ukrainian singer Nina Matvienko. Presented later at La Mama, the work was praised by The New York Times as a "theatrical enchantment."

Notes on music

Bass Paul Plishka was in excellent voice when he appeared on New York's PBS station in a live presentation of a gala concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera's orchestra director, James Levine. He made a solo appearance in a vigorous aria from Donizetti's "Don Pasquale," appeared again later in the program with a quintet of soloists and the Met chorus, and came on stage with the entire ensemble for the finale, a powerful selection from "Les Contes d'Hoffman." The concert was held at the end of the opera season, during which Mr. Plishka sang principal roles in "Falstaff," "Aida," "Romeo et Juliette" and "La Forza del Destino."
In May, bass Stefan Szkafarowsky was heard on WQXR-FM radio. He performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," singing the role of Pietro, courtier to the Doge of Genoa.
Soprano Elena Heimur was featured with a group of opera singers in a recent Merkin Concert Hall evening that paid tribute to the memory of the great Met tenor, Guilio Gari. Guest performers included opera greats Licia Albanese, Lucine Amara and Jerome Hines.
Ukrainian folk songs, ancient ballads and original compositions that resounded with patriotic sentiments, with love for "our Ukrainian language" and for Ukraine's freedom, were sung by bandurist Mykola Litwin of Kyiv during a concert at the Literary-Art Club on Second Avenue. Narration was provided by Kateryna Nemyra, a member of the Kyiv Art Association who now hosts the "Svitlytsia" radio hour in Parma, Ohio. The bandurist was introduced by a New Yorker who is widely known for his ardent support of bandurists and bandura schools, Nick Czorny-Dosinchuk, the editor of the quarterly magazine Bandura published by the New York School of Bandura. Mr. Litwin, the author of several books on bandurists, has published collections of bandura music and is preparing an encyclopedia on the art of the bandura. His book, "Zoloti Struny," about the origin of Ukrainian bandura playing, was named best book of 1995 in Kyiv and won the Olena Pchilka literary award. During a tour of U.S. cities to gather materials and funds for the encyclopedia, Mr. Litwin performed at the tree-planting ceremony that was part of the Chornobyl commemoration in Orlando, Fla.
Musical accompaniment for folk dances, bandura music, band music and voices raised in song vied with traffic noises and street-fair clamor in Little Ukraine during the weekend of May 17-19. It was the 20th annual Ukrainian Festival, held on East Seventh Street between Second and Third avenues, with fair-goers and passers-by giving high marks to the entertainment and food. Stage performers included sopranos Laryssa Magun Huryn and Olena Hrabova, bandurist Olya Stechyshyn, tenors Roman Tsymbala and Andriy Cherniak, and folk dance groups from New York (Astoria) and New Jersey (Newark), with Roma Pryma Bohachevsky's Syzokryli Dance Ensemble standing out as a beautifully rehearsed and brightly costumed group. The stage shows, produced and directed by Ulana Kekish and Anna Baczynska, were emceed by Ms. Kekish, Ms. Baczynska, Ivanna Mazur and Andriy Solodenko. The Surma shop, as always, was a favorite stop for many; vendors at booths and tables offered art work, Easter eggs, beadwork necklaces, books and tape cassettes of Ukrainian music. Although the fair may not have reached the heights envisioned by the 1976 Ukrainian Bicentennial Committee, which planned the first fair, the festival continues to take place each year, without fail. Since 1977, it has been held under the auspices of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Eighteenth century sacred music by Dmytro Bortniansky was performed by the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Manhattan on May 19. Program notes identified Bortniansky as a Ukrainian who is considered to be "one of the creators of the Russian baroque style." The first half of the concert (which I missed due to a transportation problem) featured the Early Russian Music Ensemble in a program that included anonymous "znamenny" chants, which use natural registers in an "open" folk vocal manner. These chants resembled or may have been the same as those used in Robert Shaw's presentation of Rachmaninoff's "Vespers" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on May 2. For his 80th birthday, Mr. Shaw was encircled by 80 singers as he directed the a cappella choral work, sections of which are traditional Kyiv chants. Writing in The New York Times on April 28 about the religious resurgence in Russia since the fall of the Communist regime, James R. Oestreich refers to "Bortniansky, a Ukrainian," and to "the early development of chant, centered in Kyiv."

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