CONCERT NOTES: An eclectic tribute to Taras Shevchenko (04/22/01)

CONCERT NOTES

An eclectic tribute to Taras Shevchenko

by Helena Lysyj Melnitchenko

WASHINGTON - The Washington Ukrainian community paid a musical tribute to the bard of Ukraine on his the 187th anniversary of his birth, which fell this year on Friday, March 9. The concert took place on Monday, March 5, a day on which two feet of snow were predicted in Washington - snow that did not materialize here, but which made the performers coming from New York late.

Under the auspices of The Washington Group, a group of Ukrainian professionals, and in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine, this was the fourth in a series of five concerts sponsored by TWG's Cultural Fund which is raising money for musical instruments for the Lviv Conservatory. The three preceding concerts concentrated on classical music; the tribute to Taras Shevchenko was an eclectic mix of folk and classical music. It featured four performers from Lviv: Alla Kutsevych, Anna Bachynska, Roman Tsymbala and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, as well as Ludmilla Hrabovsky from Rivne.

The bare stage was dominated by a grand piano and an image of a severe Taras Shevchenko, a copy of Ilya Repin's famous portrait painted a year before Shevchenko's death in 1861. No tribute to "The Great Bard" is complete without the bandura and Ms. Kutsevych played the complex many-stringed instrument expertly and sang together with Ms. Hrabovsky. The two young women, in traditional Ukrainian dress, have delicate voices well-suited to the intimate setting of the Rosslyn Spectrum Theater, which was three-quarters full on this cold March night. The concert began with Shevchenko's well-loved poems set to music, among them "Princess," "Lament of Yaroslavna" and "Lilea," and progressed to three Italian opera pieces, as well as Schubert's "Ave Maria." The classical music was performed by tenor Roman Tsymbala and soprano Anna Bachynska, accompanied by the pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky.

After the intermission, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, who was accompanied by his wife, spoke briefly in both English and Ukrainian about Taras Shevchenko as "a unifying hero."

Appreciative applause greeted Ms. Hrabovsky and Ms. Kutsevych when they opened the second half with Shevchenko's well-known, plaintive "Poplar," accompanied by the bandura. Shevchenko's poems set to the music of the bandura are uniformly sad with their themes of loneliness, orphanhood and early death. Ms. Hrabovsky's declamation of the second stanza gave depth to the early poem.

"The Sun, Low in the Sky," a solo from Lysenko's operetta "Natalka Poltavka," was sung by Mr. Tsymbala, whose voice, both strong and expressive, belongs in grand concert halls. Indeed, he has performed at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Tsymbala followed this popular Ukrainian aria with Puccini's challenging "Nesun Dorma," from Turandot. The concert closed with a duet from Hulak-Artemovsky's operetta "Kozak Beyond the Danube," sung by Ms. Bachynska and Mr. Tsymbala. The operatic experience of both artists was evident in their performances, which were notable not only for their strong, well-schooled voices, but for their expressive emoting.

The accompanying pianist, Mr. Vynnytsky, is a musician in his own right, a winner of the Thibault International Piano Competition in Paris in 1983 and was featured in the first concert of this series. He was appropriately and graciously recognized each time by both soloists. His skill was evident in his seemingly effortless performance.

A reception followed the concert. The varied nature of the concert was commented on in both Ukrainian and English. That eclecticism, nevertheless, had a theme. All the better-known composers, both Ukrainian and Italian, were Shevchenko's contemporaries and it can be surmised that he was familiar with their music. Taras Shevchenko was not only Ukraine's greatest poet, as well as a painter, but also Ukraine's bard. His collected works are titled "Kobzar" - the term for a wandering musician who sings his own poems. Like all great artists, he had music in his soul.

These high-quality benefit concert series are a great showcase for contemporary Ukrainian musical talent. The last event in the series on April 23 will feature New York City Opera soprano Oksana Krovytska.

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