DATELINE NEW YORK: For Ukrainians, the Christmas season continues (01/10/99)

DATELINE NEW YORK: For Ukrainians, the Christmas season continues

by Helen Smindak

The Gregorian celebration of Christmas 1998, is a thing of the past, and the "Carol of the Bells" no longer rings out in department stores and concert halls and on the airwaves. But Christmas carols are still very much with us in New York City, where more than a dozen Ukrainian parishes celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar.

On January 10, the "bell" carol will resonate in St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church on East Seventh Street, as New York's Dumka Chorus offers its annual Christmas songfest after the noontime liturgy. It will also be heard this afternoon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (St. James Chapel), where the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York is presenting a "winter celebration of traditional Slavic church and folk music" that includes a clutch of Ukrainian carols and, as an encore, a glorious rendition of the Ukrainian schedrivka (New Year carol) that became the "Carol of the Bells."

Next Sunday, January 17, the Dumka Chorus and conductor Vasyl Hrechynsky will continue their Christmas guest appearances with a concert of carols at St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Church at 160 W. 82nd St. Concluding the Yuletide season in a truly festive fashion, Dumka choristers and members of the Ukrainian Sports Club will join forces at a January 14 dance to ring in the New Year together. The two groups have a mutual connection, since the Sports Club building at 122 Second Ave. has served as rehearsal quarters for Dumka for several years.

Ukrainian organizations and ensembles throughout the city have been very active with Christmastime events in recent weeks. An innovation this year at The Ukrainian Museum was the children's Christmas program directed by Olenka Klimenko, who once worked as an actress and set designer of children's TV shows in Ukraine. Ms. Klimenko arranged an afternoon for children age 2-9 (with parents and friends in tow) that included games such as musical chairs, recitations, songs, balloons, pretzels, soda and, of course, a visit from St. Nicholas.

On another afternoon, the New York Regional Council of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America held its annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at The Ukrainian Museum. The regional council's president, Lesia Kirshak, and special events convenor, Olympia Rohowsky, led branch members in singing carols and lighting a tall tree profusely laden with colorful handmade ornaments.

Members of the Plast youth organization gathered at Plast headquarters on Second Avenue last month to greet St. Nicholas. This weekend, a group of Plast youngsters is scheduled to take a motor tour of Queens, stopping at Ukrainian homes to sing carols in true village style.

Alla Kutsevich, director of the Astoria branch of the New York School of Bandura, has been zigzagging around town with her ensemble - from a Christmas presentation at the Selfreliance Association in downtown Manhattan on December 17, to a special program at the Ukrainian National Home on December 27 in aid of the Zakarpattia flood victims. On January 17, Ms. Kutsevich and her ensemble will perform at the 1 p.m. prospfora at Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church in Astoria.

A Brooklyn-based choral group formed last year by musicologist Oksana Likhovid, a teacher at the Ukrainian Music Institute in New York, has been equally busy with Christmas caroling in Manhattan and Astoria. Ukrayinska Rodyna (The Ukrainian Family), a group of some 15 recent émigrés from Ukraine, has given concerts at Holy Cross Church in Astoria and the Ukrainian National Home in Manhattan. Dressed in Ukrainian folk costumes and holding aloft a pole topped with a star (symbolizing the star of Bethlehem and reminiscent of the elaborate star-topped poles once carried in Ukrainian villages), the ensemble recently performed at All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church and St. Mary's Byzantine-Rite Catholic Church in Manhattan. Ukrayinska Rodyna often concludes its program with a dramatic presentation: with the house lights down, the choristers, holding lighted candles, sing their final carol as they stand in a circle around a rushnyk-draped icon of the Holy Virgin.

The Ukrainian Engineers' Society and the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America joined members of the Ukrainian Institute of America on December 19 for a traditional "Yalynka" celebration at the institute. The festive New Year's Eve Ball hosted by the institute on December 31 offered participants a variety of entertainment, including a Monte Carlo Club Room, a Viennese table and dancing to the music of the Luna Orchestra.

In Flushing, Queens, the main post office got into the spirit of the season by once again installing a huge sign in front of its building, proclaiming "Christ Is Born" in many languages. Among the greetings listed under the banner headline "No Matter How You Say It - Happy Holidays" is the Ukrainian Christmas greeting "Khrystos Rodyvsia." Volodymyr Kornaha of Long Island City, Queens, who submitted the idea last year to Queens' postal authorities, says the Ukrainian salutation is now written in Cyrillic.

A phenomenal choir

During this holiday season, word reached Dateline about sacred music performed by Capella Dumka, the national choir of Ukraine, under the direction of Evhenyi Savtchouck. The choir has recorded two CDs, the first devoted to the "sacred" side of Ukrainian music, opening with Bortniansky's Choral Concerto No. 4 and including other well-known composers such as Rachmaninoff and Chesnokov. The second disc concentrates on folk and art songs, many of them using Tavener-like quarter tones and tonal clusters, multi-metered and very fast passages.

Reviewing the discs in the November-December 1998 issue of American Record Guide, Steven E. Ritter calls the choir phenomenal - "one of the most versatile, flexible and stunning that I have ever heard."

Mr. Ritter contends that if the Philadelphia Orchestra of old ever had a choral counterpart, Capella Dumka is it. He described the Dumka choir's proficiency in detail. "They have a staggering virtuosity, completely in control, a virile, steady, widely expansive vocal range that is set in recorded sound that measures itself only against perfection."

Mr. Ritter laments the fact that "we have absolutely no idea what they are singing about" since the excellent notes supply "not one whiff of text or translations." He feels the producer made an omission that should not be repeated.

In a preamble to the review, Mr. Ritter notes that Ukraine has a rich and varied musical history. Composers, like Dmitri (his spelling) Bortniansky, studied in Venice and later became official court composers (in Bortniansky's case, under Catherine the Great). Bortniansky attempted to recapture the old liturgical chants. Much of this music, says Mr. Ritter, is quite worthy of secular, if not church, performance and "some of it is spectacular."

To find this pair of discs in local record stores, ask for Capella Dumka K617086 (Qualiton). The two CDs are 115 minutes long.

A "Russian" program?

The Russian Chamber Chorus's program at 4 p.m. today is a repeat of December concerts presented as a Russian Christmas program at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church on West End Avenue and the New York University Catholic Center on Washington Square South. Directed by Nikolai Kachanov, the chorus interprets Russian sacred music as well as Dmytro Bortniansky's Christmas Chorus (Coro Per Il Natale), performed in its Italian version, and Artem Vedel's composition "Lord Now Lettest Thou," from the Canticle of St. Simeon (Vesper Service).

In the program notes, Mr. Kachanov refers to Bortniansky as "a famous Russian composer of Ukrainian origin," while Vedel is identified as Kyiv-born and trained. Vedel (born Vedelsky), spent most of his life in Kyiv and Kharkiv, conducting choirs and composing church music for choir a capella.

Bortniansky's Christmas Chorus exists in two versions: one in Italian; the other, in Church Slavonic, is well known in church tradition. Mr. Kachanov said he came upon the Italian score by chance in New York City as one in "a number of rare Russian musical scores" given to him as a gift. Written during the young Bortniansky's sojourn in Italy from 1769 to 1779, the work is said to demonstrate his complete mastery of the compositional techniques of Western Classicism.

Although the English titles of Ukrainian carols suggested selections that would be known to Ukrainians ("O Eternal God," "Brighter than the Sun," "Rejoice" and "Joy"), the works sung by the chorus were unfamiliar to me. In a brief post-concert interview, Mr. Kachanov explained that he had delved into ancient folklore to discover little-known carols, and had arranged them "according to the style of contemporary Ukrainian carols which have been formed under the influence of Western musical tradition."

The 28-member chorus, founded by Mr. Kachanov in 1985, consists mainly of non-Slavic singers. Although the ensemble's stylistic versatility and heartfelt singing in Russian, Ukrainian and Italian can certainly be commended, Mr. Kachanov's program notes and the titling of the Christmas concert as a "Russian Christmas" program could stand some reworking. Also needed is a proper introduction for "Carol of the Bells." Without identification as a carol of Ukrainian origin, listeners can only conclude it is Russian.

Holiday and year-round oases

The East Village boasts a variety of Ukrainian-owned eateries that offer Ukrainian as well as French and Italian cuisine. Located along lower Second Avenue and adjoining side streets, all are easy for shoppers and tourists to find.

The Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, located on the first floor of the Ukrainian National Home, offers a full menu of Ukrainian foods - varenyky, borshch, stuffed cabbage - and other entrees, side dishes and desserts. Piped-in Ukrainian music and waitresses in embroidered blouses lend native color to the setting, with tables available for two or a large group. Located at 140 Second Ave., (212) 529-5024.
Two doors away, the Veselka Restaurant can provide you with a bowl of Christmas borshch served with mushroom dumplings, and kutia, the traditional Christmas Eve dish of boiled wheat, ground poppy seeds, walnuts and honey. The restaurant's Polish and Ukrainian waiters are polite and speedy, serving a mostly-young crowd at the sit-down counter and at tables. Poinsettias, lots of greenery and a long wall of glass facing Ninth Street give a conservatory feeling to the long, high-ceilinged room. Open daily, 24 hours, 144 Second Ave., (212) 228-9682.
Nick Sitnycky and his wife Valya and co-owner Myron Weiner have operated John's Restaurant for 26 years. The specialty here is northern and southern Italian cuisine, with extra fish entrees offered on Christmas Eve. The restaurant is popular with show-biz folks (whose photos cover the walls of a wide nook) and a succession of young Ukrainian waiters who have worked here over the years. Open from 4:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 3:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., 302 E. 12th St., (212) 475-9531.
The Cloister Cafe, so named because of its secluded, monastic appearance, according to owner Nick Drobenko, is noted for its French and Italian Continental cuisine, luscious desserts and delicious cappuccino and espresso coffees. A very appealing feature is the open garden that is now decorated with a lighted Christmas tree and garlands of lights; a back section is canopied and heated for year-round use. Mr. Drobenko (the same man who operates the Arka store), used to run Leshko's Restaurant on First Avenue with his brothers. He will be happy to plan a party menu featuring Ukrainian foods. The cafe is open from noon to 11 p.m. daily, 238 E. Ninth St., (212) 777-9128.
The Kiev Restaurant at the corner of Second Avenue and 7th Street, though dreary-looking from the outside, has good counter service. The restaurant offers table service, too, and a variety of tasty Eastern European foods. Owned by Michael Hrynenko, it is open 24 hours daily, 117 Second Avenue, (212) 674-4040.

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