Children and Music: The Natalia Khoma Fund in Memory of Wolodymyr Czyzyk to help young musicians
CHICAGO - A fund in memory of the late violinist and influential music teacher Wolodymyr Czyzyk was formed this year with the aim of supporting talented young musicians in Lviv.
What started as an initiative on the part of Maria Czyzyk, a non-practicing attorney in Chicago, to provide financial aid to a promising student in the city where her husband had embarked on his studies, was taken up and expanded by a close acquaintance of the Czyzyks, acclaimed cellist Natalia Khoma and her mother, Marta Khoma of Lviv, to create a permanent fund that would award a stipend to a gifted student of music.
The financial award, to be accorded on a yearly basis, is to go toward facilitating optimal music training, the purchase of instruments and participation in music competitions.
The Children and Music: The Natalia Khoma Fund in Memory of Wolodymyr Czyzyk was officially registered in Lviv in January, with Marta Khoma, as president. Officers of the foundation are Oksana Kuzmowycz Shpot, music teacher and childhood friend of Dr. Czyzyk, and the writer Iryna Bozhyk of Lviv.
Since its founding the fund has been working closely with Zonta International in Lviv, a non-profit organization based in the United States with clubs throughout the world that works for the advancement of the status of women and provides funds for scientific and cultural programs.
In conjunction with the establishment of the fund, Dr. Czyzyk, accompanied by Ms. Khoma and her 12-year-old daughter, Marta Bagratuni, traveled to Lviv in June for a series of concerts held to celebrate the occasion.
The inaugural concert, held June 8 in the Hall of Mirrors in Lviv's Opera Theater, featured Ms. Khoma and the Leopolis Chamber Orchestra, with guest conductor Hryhorii Panteleychuk of France and Yaroslav Myhal, artistic director.
This was followed by a concert at the Lviv Philharmonic on June 9 that showcased the exceptional talent of five young musicians, students at the Solomia Krushelnytska Music School for Gifted Children: Lesia Lemekh and Oksana Mits, piano; and Vasyl Zatsikha, Marta Burya, and Orest Smovzh, violin. The program featured works by Bach,Wieniawski and Haydn. Ms. Khoma also appeared with the orchestra in Dvorak's Concerto in B minor.
The final concert was held June 10 in Lviv's Organ Hall, with the Leopolis Chamber Orchestra and Ms. Bagratuni performing Haydn's Concerto in C Major, and Ms. Khoma in Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major.
During her stay in her native city, Ms. Khoma also gave master classes at the Solomia Krushelnytska Music School for Gifted Children.
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The "Children and Music" fund will present its first award in December in Lviv.
Next year, a series of concerts featuring Ms. Khoma in collaboration with guest performers will be held in various cities throughout the United States to benefit the newly created fund. The official presentation of the fund in New York will be held February 17, 2001, at the Ukrainian Institute of America.
Donations to the "Children and Music: The Natalia Khoma Fund in Memory of Wolodymyr Czyzyk" may be made to: Account No. 37365, Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union, 2351 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622.
Wolodymyr Czyzyk (December 21, 1917 - March 9, 1999)
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 15, 2000, No. 42, Vol. LXVIII
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