DATELINE NEW YORK: Bravos for opera singers, a screen star and others (04/08/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Bravos for opera singers, a screen star and others

by Helen Smindak

Although the Metropolitan Opera season does not end until April 28, the Met's Ukrainian stars concluded their Met performances during the past week. Paul Plishka sang Ferrando in Verdi's "Il Trovatore," Maria Guleghina appeared as Abigaille in "Nabucco" and Vladimir Grishko tossed off the small role of The Reckless Gambler in Prokofiev's "The Gambler." How did they fare?

Mr. Plishka, who almost always gets a nice hand from the critics, received a hearty pat on the back from Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times, who wrote that "the tireless bass Paul Plishka,who sang Ferrando, continues to be a model of vocal, musical and dramatic professionalism."

Mr. Grishko's role was apparently too small to merit mention. The tenor from Kyiv, who made his Met debut during the 1995-1996 season as Rodolfo in "La Bohème," sang the role of Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly" during last summer's Met in the Parks concert series. This year brought him two prizes - from the government of Ukraine, the Shevchenko State Prize for 2001 (which some consider unwarranted); from his wife, an American-born baby sister for son Volodymyr.

Ms. Guleghina, who made her American solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in February with a program of rare music by Glinka and bel canto by Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini, has been receiving wild audience applause for her Met performances of the warlike slave Abigaille in "Nabucco." The March 24 matinee, carried live on the Texaco-Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast, brought her powerful voice to millions of listeners. Ms. Guleghina graciously accepted bouquets and blew kisses to the audience as she took her bows at the end of the performance.

The Odesa-born soprano, who makes her home in Luxembourg with her husband, baritone Mark Guleghin, and their 1-year-old son Ruslan, was praised by the Times' Anthony Tommasini as "the Abigaille of the day." Describing her performance as "fearless, exciting and dangerous," he added: "She fills the hall with gleaming sound and in her disheveled blond wig has an amazing wild-eyed look."

At the New York City Opera, diva Oksana Krovytska, who won audience and critics' raves for four seasons in the title role of "Madama Butterfly," seems to have missed out in a new role this season. Reviewing the premiere performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," The New York Times' Anne Midgette declared: "Oksana Krovytska, miscast as Donna Elvira, simply sat on a chest to deliver her first aria, outlining the character's passion rather than conveying it." Ms. Midgette found the whole production generally lacking.

The start of the 30th season of Opera Orchestra of New York, directed by Eve Queler, who has helped launch the careers of many opera stars, brought Ms. Queler's latest "discovery" on stage in Donizetti's "La Favorita" in the person of Vitalij Kowaljow, a Ukrainian bass who sang Baldassare, the monastery prior. In his review, Mr. Tommasini of the Times referred to Mr. Kowaljow as "the stentorian bass," while Associated Press writer Ronald Blum anticipated that the bass will "have a big career ahead" in operas such as "Don Carlo" and "Boris Godunov."

The 2001-2002 season, just announced by the Met and City Opera companies, promises to bring new (or rarely heard) Ukrainian voices to the New York opera scene. Prokofiev's "War and Peace," scheduled to open at the Met on February 14, 2002, will include baritone Vassily Gerello as Napoleon. Mr. Gerello, who made his Met debut in 1997 as Alfio in "Cavalleria Rusticana," appeared in New York the following year with the Kirov Orchestra and Opera Chorus in a concert version of Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta, Opus 69." Larissa Shevchenko is second-cast (after the Russian singer Elena Obraztsova) as Mme. Akhrosimova in "War and Peace."

The City Opera's new season offers Ms. Krovytska a role better suited to her voice and personality - that of the young slave girl Liu in Puccini's "Turandot." Tenor Mikhail Didyk (referred to in press releases as Misha Didyk), who appeared as the Duke in last year's City Opera production of "Rigoletto," returns as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Bohème." Making her City Opera debut, Ukrainian-born Anna Shafajinskaia will sing the title role in the ferociously effective melodrama "Tosca." Now a Canadian citizen, Ms. Shafajinskaia recently sang the title role in "Turandot" with the Welsh National Opera, receiving these words of praise from the "Opera Canada" reviewer: "Extremely attractive, and smaller and thinner than dramatic sopranos usually are, she has a voice, large, rich and lustrous, that is perfect for Puccini's Princess."

The conquering hero

As Gen. Roman Shukhevych, commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the 1950s, Gregory Hlady portrays an intense, serious, passionate man who gives his life for his country. As Gregory Hlady, leading man and actor of stage, screen and TV roles, he is a tall, handsome man whose charming smile and courteous manners captivate everyone he meets.

Mr. Hlady was the center of attention at the reception held at the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America headquarters following the New York showings of the newly released film "The Undefeated," the story of the courageous Ukrainian underground's struggle to free post-war Ukraine from the Nazis and the Soviets. The film's producer/director, Oles Yanchuk, won his share of compliments and questions on the remarkably well-done film, but Mr. Hlady took the spotlight as guests crowded around to shake his hand, congratulate him on his stunning performance or ask him to sign a copy of the colorful film brochure.

Making my way slowly through the throng, past Ukrainian World Congress President Askold Lozynskyj, New York Consul General Serhiy Pohoreltsev, Consulate staffers and other guests, I came upon Mr. Hlady. The face-to-face meeting revealed green eyes, dark blond hair that fell boyishly over his eyes, a grey business suit covering his six-foot frame (and muscular torso, as I recalled from the movie) - and of course, that wonderful smile.

A quick estimate of his age placed him at 40-something. Only a minute or two of conversation was possible before guests surrounded him again.

During that brief meeting, Mr. Hlady told me in lightly accented English that he will soon appear in a principal role in a big Hollywood production starring Ben Affleck, titled "The Sum of All Fears." From his agent, Helene Mailloux, who was standing nearby, came other data. Mr. Hlady, who speaks several languages in addition to Ukrainian, Russian and English, has many talents and interests, including singing (he has a bass/baritone voice), dancing, guitar playing, Tibetan chanting, fencing and doing stunts. Born in western Ukraine in the Lviv/Ternopil region and trained in Kyiv and Moscow, he has been a resident of Montreal for the past 10 years.

The transplanted Ukrainian, who spent three years early in his career travelling around the world with the Anatoly Vassiliev Theatre company, has a lengthy résumé of appearances in Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian theater, film and television productions. His stage work includes the role of Salieri in Alexander Pushkin's "Mozart and Salieri" in Rome and the part of Macduff in the New Generation Theatre Group presentation of "Macbeth."

Among his movie/television credits are principal roles in the Warner Brothers' film "Kung Fu, The Legend Continues" and the West German release "Leningrad, November," the six-part CBC drama series of 1999 "Cover Me," as well as appearances in a large number of French-Canadian works, among them "Quelque Chose d'Organique," "Gold Hunters" and "Parents Malgre Tout."

Mr. Hlady directed a laboratory production of avant-garde writer Yuriy Tarnawsky's "Not Medea" at New York's Mabou Mines in 1998 and has won awards for both acting and directing. In 1988 he was named best actor at the Science Fiction and Horror Movies Festival in Sitges, Spain, for his work in the Belarusian film "The Apostate." In 1992, he received the Best Directing Award from the Quebec Critics' Association for his direction of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming." After his strong performance in "The Undefeated," I have a very strong feeling that we will be seeing and hearing more of Gregory.

A revival takes place

The Ukrainian Literary-Art Club, a continuation of New York's Literaturno-Mystetskyi Kliub which flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, has revived its evenings of art, poetry, prose and music under the direction of Mayana Gallery director/ceramic artist Slava Gerulak. On Friday evenings, the literati and devotees of traditional (and sometimes avant-garde) Ukrainian music and art have been gathering in the gallery, with its air of a genteel European salon, to hear music performed by Julian Kytasty, Jurij Fedynsky and Michael Andrec of the Experimental Bandura Trio, or Lev Maystrenko's rare sound recordings of "bylyny," epic songs of the Kyivan Rus' period composed and performed by bandurist Dr. Zenoviy Shtokalko (1920-1968), whose lifetime ambition was to reconstruct this ancient Ukrainian musical genre.

At 136 Second Avenue (fourth floor) you can watch the Ukrainska Rodyna choral ensemble and director Oksana Lykhovyd re-enact the ancient winter solstice rituals of Andriy Kalyta with magical songs and acts, ritual foods and divination. Or, as in the case of a recent soirée that focused on Valentine's Day, listen to readings by author Lubov Dmytryshyn-Chasto and Lavrentiya Turkewicz, a talk on the origin of St. Valentine's Day by journalist Olha Kuzmowycz and "heart" duets by Yaroslava Hirniak and Laryssa Hulovych, all the while delighting in heart-themed art work by Ms. Gerulak and Easter-egg expert Sofiyka Zielyk.

March, the month Ukrainians set aside for revering Taras Shevchenko, inspired a talk by Ms. Gerulak on his soul-wrenching work "Rozryta Mohyla" (The Plundered Grave), the poet's metaphor for a Ukraine robbed of her inheritance, and readings of the great bard's poems by actors Laryssa Kukrytska Lysniak and Volodymyr Lysniak. Against a background of Shevchenko's artwork in reproduction and illustrations of his poetry by contemporary artists, Mr. Lysniak offered a dramatic interpretation of "Kavkaz" (a poem, he noted beforehand, that gripped his imagination when he first read it at age 13) and "Subotiv," one of three parts of Shevchenko's "Velykyi Liokh" (The Great Dungeon), which allegorically summarizes Ukraine's passage from freedom to captivity. Together, Mr. and Mrs. Lysniak lent pathos and emotion to Shevchenko's "Rozryta Mohyla."

With a wealth of experience in the dramatic field, the two actors have continued to devote much time over the years to staging readings of Ukrainian classics (in Ukrainian and English) for colleges and universities, as well as for Ukrainian concerts and charitable functions. Mr. Lysniak, the leading actor in many of the Studio-Theater productions staged by Joseph Hirniak and Olympia Dobrowolsky in post-war Germany and in New York in the 1950s, founded the group Novyi Teatr in 1965 and directed Ukrainian plays (including sets, lighting and costume design) while also directing a series of American classics for the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. Active on the Off-Broadway circuit during his student days as a theatre arts major at Columbia University, he resumed work in Off-Broadway and regional theatre after receiving a master of fine arts degree from Yale.

Mrs. Lysniak, who holds a BFA from Hunter College and an MFA from Columbia, used the stage name Laryssa Lauret during a 13-year career in daytime TV serials, appearing as Simone Morey in CBS-TV's "Guiding Light" and before that as Dr. Karen Werner in "The Doctors." She also appeared on "The Catholic Hour," the "U.S. Steel Hour" and "Alcoa Hour" and in television commercials and acted in productions on and off Broadway and in stock. She enacted roles in almost all of the plays produced by her husband. Her original play, " The Exhibit," a long one-act work underwritten by the Ukrainian National Association and performed in English with a Ukrainian American cast, was staged in New York and at Soyuzivka in 1983-1984 under her husband's direction. The Lysniak team is currently preparing an evening to honor the life and career of the renowned theater director Volodymyr Blavatsky of Philadelphia and his late wife, the talented stage actress Yevdokiia Dychkivna.

Images of Ukraine

Photographer Yuri Lev has exhibited urban landscapes, winter scenes and Hudson Valley vignettes throughout the New York area, but had never given a public showing of his Ukrainian work. The opportunity to do so came on March 23, when he proudly introduced an exhibit of black-and-white and color photographs taken during recent visits to Ukraine - the latest in 1998.

Mr. Lev's two-week show at the Mayana Gallery, hosted by the Literary-Art Club, offered an intimate look at Ukrainians in their daily occupations - portraits of a Carpathian grandmother and child, a beggar in Lviv, an old woman working in a potato field, a street-sweeper in Ivano-Frankivsk, a potter at work, a hay gatherer in Mykolaiv. "There's a lot of character and backbone in these people," Mr. Lev commented as he reminisced about his contacts with the people of Ukraine, pointing out portraits of a dignified Hutsul and an elderly man he called "the last Kozak - my cousin Ivan, a humble man who has epilepsy, sweeps streets and recites poetry." Included in the exhibit were striking views of the interior of St. Dora's Church in Yaremche, a stark military cemetery with birch crosses, a roadside cross draped with a wreath of flowers and an abandoned checkpoint - images that revealed Ukraine's beauty and its ravaged past. The framed prints were reasonably priced at $175 and $200.

Mr. Lev says he was imbued with the spirit of his ancestors from an early age and has always felt fortunate "to be fed by both American and Ukrainian culture." Born Yuri Lev Hrynyszyn in St. Paul, Minn., to Ukrainian parents from Halychyna who fled communism in the 1940s, Mr. Lev graduated from the University of Rochester and studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. He received a master of fine arts degree from New York's Pratt Institute, where he studied with Arthur Freed and Phil Perkis. Though he works commercially in portrait, travel and medical photography, he has CD covers, book covers and work in major New York newspapers to his credit. His work can be viewed on the website http://geocities.com/yurilev/.

Adding musical verve to the opening, Julian Kytasty's bandura-student foursome - 11-year-old Ruslana Makarenko and her three brothers, Boian, 13, Vsevolod, 15, and Rostyslav, 17 - beautifully executed solos and group performances of sprightly folk-dance tunes. Maestro Kytasty contributed an original bandura-and-song composition that he felt "goes with Yuri Lev's photo of the Carpathian horse" and Jurij Fedynsky offered an original work that rippled across the strings of his bandura. Joined by the third member of the Experimental Bandura Trio, Michael Andrec, for an impromptu bandura fantasy dedicated to Mr. Lev, the ensemble teamed up with the Makarenko youngsters for the finale, a lively "Kozachok."

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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