Krysa/Tchekina and Koshuba perform concerts in Washington (11/07/99)

Krysa/Tchekina and Koshuba perform concerts in Washington

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - It was a rare treat for capital area classical music enthusiasts: the opportunity to hear two concerts performed by leading Ukrainian musicians in one weekend.

Violinist Oleh Krysa and his wife, pianist Tatiana Tchekina, performed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on Sunday, October 24, while organist Volodymyr Koshuba performed at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in historic Alexandria, Va., on Friday, October 22.

The Krysa-Tchekina concert was part of the prestigious National Gallery series of concerts now in its 58th season.

Before a packed audience in the Gallery's West Garden Court, Mr. Krysa and Ms. Tchekina performed three sonatas for violin and piano - by Beethoven (No. 5 in F Major), Brahms (No. 3 in D Minor) and Debussy (in G Minor) - and the "Ukrainian Triptych" by Yevhen Stankovych, among other selections.

Washington Post critic Alan Greenblatt saw "offhanded confidence" in Mr. Krysa's playing, "his weightless bow work creating a warm tone that is at times almost breathy."

"Krysa slid from note to note with the deftness of a figure skater" in Beethoven's Sonata, the reviewer wrote, adding that he was "both commanding and elegiac in the Adagio movement of the Brahms, fashioning a contemplative mood that transported the listener willingly to a sentimental spot where weighty cares cannot be dispelled."

Mr. Greenblatt called pianist Ms. Tchekina, who is a soloist in her own right, "a lively and bright accompanist," and added, "Relying heavily on foot pedals, she played with an old-fashioned, grand sound, perhaps in an effort to combat the hall's sorry acoustics."

The two musicians now live in Rochester, N.Y., where Mr. Krysa is professor of violin at the Eastman School of Music. He is also artist-in-residence at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York City.

The Krysa family (his sons also are musicians) will travel to Ukraine in December, where they will give performances in Kyiv and Lviv.

Organist Volodymyr Koshuba, an Honored Artist of Ukraine who since 1981 has served as the chief organist in Kyiv's Concert Hall of Organ and Chamber Music, performed the works of four composers: César Franck, Charles Tournemire, Louis Vierne and Alexandre Guilmant.

His concert was part of the 1999-2000 "Concert with a Cause" series organized by the Old Presbyterian House. While the concert was free, donations offered by members of the audience went to the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry. The reception that followed the concert was hosted by representatives of the Children of Chornobyl project.

Mr. Koshuba's Washington-area concert launched his 1999 U.S. tour, which included subsequent performances in Charlestown, W. Va., Lynchburg, Va., and St. Paul, Minn.

Before returning to Kyiv in mid-November, he is schedule to give five more concerts: November 4 in St. Peter, Minn., Gustavus Adolphus Church; November 5 in Red Wing, Minn., First Lutheran Church; November 7 in Albert Lee, Minn., First Lutheran Church; November 11 in Rochester, Minn., Zumbro Lutheran Congregation; November 13 in Evanston, Ill., Presbyterian Home.

This is Mr. Koshuba's fourth concert tour in the United States, which he organizes with the help of organist-friends in the United States. On his first visit to Washington he played at the National Cathedral. He has also toured in Europe, South America and Japan.

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