1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Survey on culture and the arts (12/26/99)

1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Survey on culture and the arts

The 1999 cultural season saw developments in all areas, with music again prominent on the scene. The following (listed by category) were among the highlights of the season.

Architecture

At a time of serious economic malaise, Lviv, a city known for its varied architectural styles, saw the restoration of some of its heralded architectural landmarks as a result of work done in the city's center in preparation for the Summit of Central European Presidents being held there on May 14-15.
Twenty-three architects and related design professionals expressed support for the formation of a Society for Ukrainian Architecture, in accordance with a plan formulated in the framework of the Joint Conferences program held in Washington on June 26.
A photographic exhibition of Ukraine's architectural landmarks by Ukraine's renowned scholar and art historian Hryhorii Lohvyn was held at the Ukrainian Museum in New York on October 3-November 21.

Art

An exhibition of graphic works by Alexander Archipenko and oil paintings, watercolors and drawings by Alexis Gritchenko (Oleksa Hryschenko), which forms part of the Olena and Zenon Feszczak Collection donated to The Ukrainian Museum, was held at the museum on December 6, 1998, through February of this year.
Sculptures by Lviv-born artist Oleh Lesiuk were exhibited at a solo show titled "The Cycles of Life," in Toronto's Cedar Ridge Gallery on January 17-29.
The paintings of Mykola Krychevsky (1898-1961), the son of renowned Ukrainian architect and artist Vasyl Krychevsky, were on view at The Ukrainian Museum in New York on February 20 through March 7. Following the exhibition the paintings, on loan from the Krychevsky family collection, were permanently relocated to museums in Ukraine.
Vasyl Krychevsky (1873-1952), an outstanding public figure in the field of architecture and art, was honored with an exhibition of his paintings and drawings at The Ukrainian Museum. Drawing on the collection of Vadym Pavlovsky, the exhibit opened at the museum on December 5 and will be on view through March 12, 2000.
The Daria Hoydysh Endowment for the Arts was inaugurated February 19 at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York with a commemorative art exhibit featuring artists who were exhibited by Mrs. Hoydysh during her tenure as curator and director of art at the institute from 1991 to 1996. Among artists represented at the exhibition were Jacques Hnizdovsky, Sviatoslav Hordynsky, Liuboslav Hutsaliuk, Masha Archer-Muchin, Yaroslava Gerulak, Arcadia Olenska-Petryshyn, Ilona Sochynsky, Anya Farion, Christina Saj, Ihor Barabakh, Nikolai Perepelitsa, Severyn Barabakh, Marko Shuhan; and the American artist Loren Ellis.
The exhibition "Flowers as Muse," dedicated to the memory of the late Daria Hoydysh, art curator and director of "Art at the Institute," was organized by artist Ilona Sochynsky. Featured were works by Nina Klymowska; Olga Maryschuk, Natalia Pohrebinska, Roma Rainey, Ms. Sochynsky and Martha Hirniak Voyevidka. The exhibit was on view at the Ukrainian Institute of America on May 1-29.
The work of artists Tanya Osadca and Aka Pereyma was featured in The Ukrainian Museum's annual exhibition of pysanky, or Ukrainian Easter eggs, as expressed in both its traditional form and in contemporary art. The exhibit was on view at the museum on March 21 through June 6.
The Chicago exhibit "Second Nature: A Show of New Media for the New Millennium," curated by Paul Hertz, and featuring a program dedicated to technology, was held at the Ukrainian Art Institute on May 9 through June 27 as part of the city's Project Millennium.
The work of Ukrainian American artist Zenko Onyshkewych was exhibited in Switzerland at the Musee de Bagnes in Le Chable on June 24-August 22. Titled "Zenko Onyshkewych: 25 Years of Paintings in the Entremont," the exhibit comprised some 65 paintings done on location over a span of 25 years.
An exhibit paying tribute to one of Canada's most popular sculptors titled "Leo Mol: Fifty Creative Years in Canada," opened the cultural season at the newly redesigned Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation Gallery in Toronto on September 19, with Mr. Mol and wife, Margareth, present at the opening.
The noted Ukrainian American artist Liuboslav Hutsaliuk was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York held on October 23-November 7.
The landmark exhibit - "Gold of the Nomads: Scythian Treasures from Ancient Ukraine" - featuring more than 170 objects on loan from museums in Ukraine, began its tour of the United States, opening at the San Antonio Museum of Art on November 7 and running through December 31, 2001, with exhibits in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, N.Y., Kansas City and Paris.
Eudokia Sorochaniuk, 80, of Pennsauken, N.J., selected as one of 13 master folk artists from around the country for her accomplishments in Ukrainian embroidery and weaving skills, was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in a ceremony on September 28 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.
An exhibition of paintings by Andrei Kushnir, titled "My River: Recent Paintings of the Potomac River," was held at Taylor and Sons Fine Art in Washington from September 8 to October 8.
Toronto artist Sophia Lada completed icons for the chapel of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Rome, bringing to completion the years' long project.
The work of artist Larysa Martyniuk, a resident of Colorado, who finds inspiration for her work in nature, was shown at Maxim's of Greeley, and at the Aspen Fine Art Gallery in Aspen, Colo.
Young Ukrainian American archaeologists and scholars were invited to speak at The Ukrainian Museum this fall about new developments at such important archaeological sites in Ukraine as Kamianets-Podilskyi and Khersones on the Crimean peninsula, as well as about Scythian treasures. Featured speakers were Dr. Adrian Mandzyj, Dr. Olenka Pevny, and Dr. Lada Onyshkevych.

Dance

American Ballet Theater soloist Maxim Belotserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko received excellent notices for their performances in "Giselle," "Études," "The Merry Widow," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Sinfonietta," and made their debuts in the leading roles of "Don Quixote." The couple also appeared as soloists in Robert Joffrey's "Pas des Deesses"; Mr. Bilotserkovsky was also featured as one of the soloists in Robert Hall's new ballet "Baroque Game."
Dmitry Polischuk, a Ukrainian-born composer formerly of Vinnytsia, whose compositions for the new ballets choreographed this season by Robert Hill, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, included "Post No Scriptum," which premiered on March 30 at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, and "Baroque Game," which premiered at City Center on October 28. Both works received excellent reviews by The New York Times dance critics Jack Anderson and Anna Kisselgoff.
Choreographer Nusha Martynuk, professor of dance at Oberlin College, was awarded the 1999 Cleveland Arts Prize for Dance in recognition of her creative achievement in the field on September 21 at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Cleveland's Kashtan School of Dance, under the direction of David Woznak, celebrated its 20th anniversary on October 30 in Parma.
Members of the Arkan Dance Company, with its directors, Danovia Stechishin-Stefura and Scott Stefura, set off on a concert tour of China on July 21 as part of the China International Year of Traditional Song and Dance and the World Expo of Culture.

Film

The film "Stolen Years," a co-production of the Blackwell Corp. and The Evans-McCan Group, which documents the terror of Stalin's regime, was aired on PBS in March.
A landmark documentary on the Ukrainian experience in this century, "Scarred by History," produced by Canada's 4 Square Production and Kyiv-based Novyy Kanal, was aired on television in Toronto on March 30 and April 3-4 by History Television as part of its "War Stories" series.
The documentary film "Prypiat," directed and produced by Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter, was screened as part of the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on October 3. The film is named after the city where many of the workers of the Chornobyl nuclear plant lived.
The French film "Est-Ouest," directed by Regis Wargnier, which offers a version of Soviet reality under Stalin, had its North American premiere on September 15 at the Toronto International Festival. Apart from the fact that much of the drama is set and shot in Kyiv, neither the writers nor director have a rudimentary notion that a place called Ukraine exists. Among the film's supporting cast was Ukrainian star Bohdan Stupka.
The Polish film "With Fire and Sword," based on the first volume of Henryk Sienkiewicz's trilogy, which depicts the great Kozak war against the Polish Commonwealth led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, was screened in New York on March 18. Directed by Jerzy Hoffman, the film starred Ukraine's Bohdan Stupka as Khmelnytsky and Ruslana Pysanka as Horpyna.

Literature

The memoir "Honey and Ashes: A Story of Family," by Ukrainian Canadian writer and scholar Janice Keefer, was released as a publication of Harper Flamingo.
The nationally acclaimed author and writer Myrna Kostash's "The Doomed Bridegroom: A Memoir," which provides historical narratives via a personal journey, was published by NeWest Press in Edmonton. Ms. Kostash delivered the 1999 Mohyla Lecture, titled "All of Baba's Great Grandchildren: Ethnic Identity in the Next Canada," at the University of Saskatchewan on November 19.
A second collection of poetry by the New York Group poet Yuriy Tarnawsky titled "Yikh Nemaye" (They Don't Exist), published by the Kyiv publishing house Rodovid, was presented in Lviv, Kyiv and in Chicago this fall.

Music: individual performers

Mykola Suk, artistic director at the Ukrainian Institute of America, presented a special concert in memory of Daria Hoydysh at the institute on February 20 and appeared in solo recital at the Consulate General of Hungary on December 9.
Alexander Mikhailuk, 29, the first-prize winner of the 1998 Young concert Artists International Auditions in New York, gave a solo recital at the 92nd Street YMCA on March 2.
Vitalij Kuprij, 25, currently at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, made his Carnegie Hall debut in a featured concert with the New York Youth Symphony on March 7.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky appeared in concert with violinist Daniel Phillips and cellist Vagram Saradjian at the Ukrainian Institute of America on February 13, with the Leontovych String Quartet at Music Mountain in Falls Village, Conn., on July 18, and with cellist Natalia Khoma at Trinity Church as part of the Earl Tucker Concert Series in a Beethoven program on July 29.
Concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky, one of the most traveled of all Ukrainian American classical performers, was on tour performing concerts from Australia, to Britain, to Chile from June 6 to September 16.
Four young piano virtuosos - Vadym Kholodenko, Daniil Shleyenkov, Seiko Tsukamoto and Oleksiy Hryniuk - Winners of Kyiv's third annual Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition performed at the Ukraine's Consulate General in New York on October 13.
The Ukrainian Canadian piano duo of Luba and Ireneus Zuk were awarded the title "Merited Artists of Ukraine" for "significant personal contribution to the popularization of Ukrainian culture in the world and notable creative achievements" at the State Opera House in Kyiv on October 19.
Among leading Ukrainian musicians performing concerts were violinist Oleh Krysa, partnered by his wife, pianist Tatiana Tchekina, who performed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on October 24.
Organist Volodymyr Koshuba, chief organist in Kyiv's Concert Hall of Organ and Chamber Music, launched his fourth U.S. concert tour with a performance at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, Va., on October 22.
Virko Baley's newest composition, "Treny," a tetralogy for two violoncellos and soprano, received its world premiere during the Music at the Institute concert in New York on November 20. Featured artists were acclaimed cellists Natalia Khoma and Suren Bagratuni and New York City Opera diva Oksana Krovytska.
Ukraine's consul general in New York, Yuriy Bohaievsky, hosted a concert, "The Charms of Ukrainian Music and Song," at the Ukrainian Institute of America on November 24. Invited to the evening were members of the Ukrainian American community, as well as diplomats representing diverse countries. Concert performers were: jazz pianist John Stetch, bandurist Roman Hrynkiv, bandurist and soprano Alla Kutsevych, alto Liudmyla Hrabovska, pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky, tenor Roman Tsymbala, soprano Lesya.
The summer concert season at the Grazhda, organized by the Music and Art Center of Greene County under the direction of Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky, and held at the Grazhda in Hunter, N.Y., featured, among others, the late tenor Anatoliy Solovyanenko, pianist Vitalij Kuprij, cellist Vagram Saradjian and pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky; soprano Oksana Krovytska; violinist Oleh Krysa and pianist Tatiana Techekina; violinist Artur Gursky, mezzo-soprano Charlene Marcinko, sopranos Oleksandra Hrabova and Liuba Schybchyk.
A leading venue of Ukrainian cultural events in New York, the Ukrainian Institute of America presented, among others, cellist Natalia Khoma and the Auryn Quartet of Germany; violinist Solomia Soroka in her New York debut recital; an all-Lysenko program featuring soprano Oksana Krovytska, mezzo-soprano Charlene Marcinko and baritone Yaroslav Hnatiuk and pianist Thomas Hrynkiw. The opening concert of the season was titled "Oleh Krysa and Family," featuring violinist Oleh Krysa, pianist Tatiana Tchekina, violinist Peter Krysa and cellist Rachel Lewis Krysa.

Opera

The renowned Ukrainian opera singer Anatoliy Solovyanenko, soloist with the Kyiv Theater of Opera and Ballet (1965-1993), began his tour of Ukrainian communities in Canada and the U.S., with an appearance at the Glen Gould Hall in Toronto on May 30; the tour concluded with, as it turned out, his last concert at the Grazhda in Hunter, N.Y., on July 4.
Soprano Alexandra Hrabova appeared as Violetta in the Dicapo Opera production of Verdi's "La Traviata" in February, to critical reviews by The New York Times and music critic John W. Freeman of Opera News.
Bass Paul Plishka, leading member of the Metropolitan Opera now in his 33rd season at the Met, accompanied by pianist Thomas Hrynkiw, presented an evening of operatic arias and American and Ukrainian music during a gala benefit concert at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York on April 17.
Paul Plishka and baritone Stephan Pyatnychko, who made his Carnegie Hall and New York operatic debut, appeared with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Donizetti's "Adelia" on November 11 in Carnegie Hall.
Ukrainian tenor Vladimir Grishko sang at the Met in the role of Rodolfo in "La Boheme" in February and in Mussorgsky's "Khovanschina" in March.
Odesa-born soprano Maria Guleghina appeared in "Aida" in spring and sang Lady Macbeth in a new production of Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Paris Opera.
Baritone Sergei Koptchak appeared in Janacek's "Katya Kabanova" at the Met in January and sang the role of the priest in the February performances of Schoenberg's "Moses und Aron."
Soprano Oksana Krovytska opened the New York City Opera season in mid-September in the title role in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly." She was highly commended by reviewers, among them Bernard Holland of The New York Times.
Bass Stefan Szkafarowsky appeared as the Commendatore in the NYCO productions of "Don Giovannni" on March 30 through April 25 and Richard Strauss' "Intermezzo" in April as well as sang the roles of Varlaam and Pimen in "Boris Godunov" at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Twenty-four-year-old Wolodymyr Smishkewych from Cranford, N.J., on his way to a promising career as an opera singer and a specialist in early music, appeared, to critical review by Bernard Holland, in February in a program of French liturgical music with the New York Collegium concert at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, as well as soloist with the Indiana University Baroque Orchestra and other U.S. and European performances.

Music ensembles

One of Canada's premiere chamber groups - The Gryphon Trio - violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker, appeared in a concert in a performance of contemporary classics, including works by contemporary Canadian composers Gary Kulesha and Marc Sabat, at the Jane Mallet Theatre in Toronto on March 23.
The New Jersey Youth Symphony, with Adrian Bryttan in his third year as its music director, presented a challenging repertoire for his high school-aged 90-member orchestra; among featured soloists at the concerts was soprano Liuba Shchybchyk.
The Detroit-based Ukrainian Bandura Chorus, under the direction of Oleh Mahlay, the group's first American-born conductor, marked 50 years of performing in North America this fall.
The New York Bandura Ensemble of New York, under the direction of Julian Kytasty, celebrated its 25th anniversary on April 24 with a concert by its students and with solo vocalist Olya Chodoba Fryz, as well as guest artist Kyiv bandurist Roman Hrynkiw.
One of Ukraine's leading contemporary bandura performers Roman Hrynkiv, who hopes to see the bandura accepted as a string instrument of international recognition and stature, was in New York this spring to complete a musical collaboration and recording of a joint CD with renowned jazz guitarist Al DiMeola.
Canadian singer Alexis Kochan and her Paris to Kyiv ensemble - Martin College, Julian Kytasty, Richard Moody and John Wyre - were one of the groups chosen to perform at the Showcase of Culturally Diverse and First Nations Artists held at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto on November 14. The ensemble made its Washington debut on April 29 at the Embassy of France. and performed in "Night Songs from a Neighboring Village," for the World Music Institute in New York City at Symphony Space on May 1.
Yara Arts Group presented with the Ukrainian Institute of America a two-day festival of song titled "Harvest: Ukrainian Folk Song Today"; the events included a workshop in Ukrainian folk singing led by Canadian singer Alexis Kochan; "Ancient Song, New Voices," featuring a presentation of ancient folk songs in Ukraine today by Maryana Sadovska, actor and musical director of the Gardzienica Experimental Theater in Poland; a concert of new interpretation of traditional songs by Ms. Kochan and third-generation bandurist Julian Kytasty; and "New Music From Old sources," with performances by the Experimental Bandura Trio - Mr. Kytasty, Michael Andrec and Jurij Fedynsky - and guest artist bandurist Roman Hrynkiv.
The recently established St. Andrew's College Chamber Choral Ensemble, under the direction of Tatiana Navolska, performed at the Eva Calire Hall of the School of Music at the University of Manitoba.
The Olexander Koshetz Choir of Winnipeg, under the direction of Walter Klymkiw, issued a new CD featuring Mykola Leontovych's collected liturgical music.
A Choral Workshop of Ukrainian Music, organized jointly by The Ukrainian Canadian Choral Federation, the Ukraina Bandura Camp and the Kobzarska Sich Bandura Camp was held in Toronto on April 23-25, with Halyna Kondracki, Oleh Mahlay and Myron Maksymiw.
The Chamber Chorus of the University of California-Berkeley, under the direction of Prof. Marika Kuzma, traveled in June to Vienna, Lviv, Kyiv and Prague, presenting a program spanning various centuries and cultures of sacred music, including Ukrainian and Slavic sacred works.
The American-born and English-speaking members of the Ukrainian Catholic Choir of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church of Olyphant, Pa., under the direction of Patrick J. Marcinko II, performed concerts of Church Slavonic liturgical music throughout New York state.

Popular music

Gogol Bordello, a four-man Ukrainian band specializing in a punk-style cabaret music, fronted by Kyiv-born Eugene Hutz, was a hit on the New York club scene.
The Kyiv-based four-man band Vopli Vidopliassova, purveyors of Ukrainian ethno-music rock, fronted by Oleh Skrypka, appeared at Manhattan's Coney Island High Club in the East Village this spring.
The popular a capella group Pikardiiska Tertsiia of Lviv, under the direction of Volodymyr Yakymets, was in the United States on June 27-July 8 during which time it appeared in concert for Ukrainian communities.

Publications and archives

Canadian singer Alexis Kochan and bandurist Julain Kytasty contributed entries on Ukrainian music for the second edition of the "Rough Guide to World Music," published in London.
The English-language publication, "Dictionary of Ukrainian Composers," compiled by Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky and Natalia Palidvor Sonevytska, and offering essential information on Ukrainian composers in Ukraine and in the diaspora, became available in the United States.
The long-lost estate of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was discovered this summer by Harvard specialists in Kyiv, where it was preserved as part of the music archive of the Berlin Sing-Akademie.

Theater

Art installations inspired by Ukrainian poems, poetry and music, encompassing the work of 15 visual artists, contemporary poets and three composers, were featured in a three-day festival titled "Poetry: Installations and Performances" presented by Virlana Tkacz and the Yara Arts Group at the Ukrainian Institute of America on January 29-31.
The all-sung, multi-disciplinary work "Flight of the White Bird," a Yara Arts Group production, under the direction of Virlana Tkacz, was staged at La MaMa E.T.C. on March 6-21, jointly with artists from the Buryat National Theater of Siberia.
Among Ukrainian stars appearing on Broadway were: Christina Pawl in the musical "Cabaret" and Jeremy Kushnier in "Footloose." Appearing Off-Broadway were Tannis Kowalchuk in "Asphyxia and Other Promises" at La MaMa E.T.C. , and Mary Ellen Baker in Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore" and "Ruddigore."

Ukrainian Hopak for the millennium

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