DATELINE NEW YORK: Leontovych String Quartet celebrates 30th (11/11/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Leontovych String Quartet celebrates 30th

by Helen Smindak

With a sterling performance before a packed house at the Ukrainian Institute of America on October 27, the Leontovych String Quartet and renowned pianist Bella Davidovich felicitously marked the 30th anniversary of a musical ensemble that has brought its incomparable artistry to thousands upon thousands of listeners around the world.

Violinists Oleh Krysa and Peter Krysa (father and son), violist Borys Deviatov and cellist Volodymyr Panteleyev (the sole founding member of the quartet still with the group) demonstrated breathtaking precision and split-second timing as a quartet, delivering polished, compelling performances of Myroslav Skoryk's somewhat dissonant Partita for String Quartet No. 6 and Brahms' light-hearted String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51.

The highlight of the evening came when Ms. Davidovich joined the foursome in Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44. The strong introduction and vigorous melody of the composition's allegro brillante opening was followed by a quieter section and a portion where the string instruments sang while Ms. Davidovich's fingers spilled across the piano keys. A sprightly humorous section turned into a fast-paced series of crescendos, then changed to precise, staccato tempos that presaged the final movement, where Ms. Davidovich's piano took the lead with rippling notes. Together, the pianist and the quartet worked on the mounting crescendos that led to the work's exciting finale.

Ms. Davidovich accepted a bouquet of flowers as she and the ensemble took one bow after another to continuous applause after the Schumann work. Described as "a leading pianist of the day" by The New York Times, Ms. Davidovich has been welcomed as a soloist by the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Symphony, as well as the Borodin, Guarneri and Tokyo string quartets. She has been hailed at international stages, has been a guest artist at music festivals around the globe and has served on the juries of the Queen Elizabeth and Chopin International Piano Competitions.

The Leontovych quartet, which ended the concert with the Brahms work, returned to the stage after several bows with an encore - Dvorak's "Final Movement Quartet No. 12, American" - with Peter Krysa playing first violin. The energetic, rapid-fire piece appeared to be enjoyed as much by the instrumentalists as it was by the audience.

The season's first concert of the Music at the Institute (MATI) series, featuring the institute's own quartet-in-residence, was opened by MATI Executive Director Dr. Taras Shegedyn and addressed by UIA President Walter Nazarewicz, who thanked everyone for making a special effort "to come out in this difficult time."

Heightening the color and vibrancy of the occasion were more than 35 exuberant works of art by Canadian-born Patricia Pochenko Stillman of Paradise Valley, Ariz. On exhibit from October 24 to 30, Ms. Pochenko's paintings and sculptures ranged from sensitive pastel portraits of children in real-life poses to rich floral still lifes painted with oils on canvas; her sculptures included figures of famous persons and Native Americans and her ever-popular bronzes of cats and dogs.

Born in Manitoba of Ukrainian parents, Ms. Stillman began formal art studies as a teenager with life-drawing classes at the University of Manitoba. Following a successful career in radio and television, she started painting and sculpture studies 15 years ago at the Scottsdale Artists' School in Arizona. Her work, which has received numerous awards, has been exhibited in shows in Arizona and New Mexico.

The Leontovych String Quartet, founded in Kyiv in 1971, was considered one of the leading quartets of the former Soviet Union. Following its American debut in 1988, the quartet took up residence in the United States in 1991 and has concertized since then in most American cities, among them Washington, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. It has also played at many major American music festivals, including Connecticut's Music Mountain, appearing there every summer since 1991.

The quartet is a prize-winner of the Leo Weiner International String Quartet Competition in Budapest and in 1989 received Ukraine's prestigious Lysenko Award for popularizing Ukrainian chamber music.

In New York the quartet has performed at the United Nations, Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival and Carnegie Hall, where it is scheduled to appear again on January 27, 2002, with a mostly Ukrainian program. During its 30th anniversary season, the Leontovych quartet will be giving concerts in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Far East and Ukraine (the ensemble will be in Lviv and Kyiv in May 2002), and will add a new CD to its considerable roster of recordings.

Mnohaya Lita!

On the subject of anniversaries, congratulations are also in order for The Ukrainian Museum in New York, all of 25 years old this year. The Museum celebrated its silver anniversary during a gala luncheon at the New York Palace Hotel on October 14, in the process accumulating over $200,000 in donations and pledges for its new museum building.

During the past quarter-century, the museum has made a vast contribution to America's understanding and appreciation of the cultural heritage of Ukraine and the work of Ukrainian artists and craft artisans. Details of the museum's work were given in my story of the museum celebration, carried on the front page of the October 21 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly.

The opening paragraph of the story may have given the impression that the celebration was sponsored by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (Soyuz Ukrayinok), which was not the case. Although the Ukrainian National Women's League of America founded The Ukrainian Museum and has continued to provide full and strong support through the years, the Ukrainian Museum is a separate entity and, as such, planned and organized the anniversary celebration.

Reviews, reviews

The American Ballet Theatre's two-week fall season at City Center, which ended November 4, brought high words of praise from critics for principal dancers Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Belotserkovsky and Vladimir Malakhov. Reviewing ABT's gala season opener on October 23, Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times pointed to "the crystal-hard delicacy" in the dancing of Ms. Dvorovenko and Mr. Belotserkovsky as they performed the Adagio and Coda from George Balanchine's bravura "Sylvia Pas de Deux." Miss Dunning said the pas de deux from Nacho Duato's "Without Words," danced by Julie Kent and Vladimir Malakhov, was performed "to angling, clinging perfection."

The evening's final number, Balanchine's "Symphony in C," co-staged with Victoria Simon by John Taras, Balanchine's longtime associate, was a glittering celebration of the Bizet score, according to Ms. Dunning, who wrote that the evening came to a triumphant close, filling the stage "with dancers hurtling, for the most part, through choreography that is propulsive and complex, but grand in its august geometry."

In another review, that of "Clear," a new work by an Australian choreographer that was the hit of the City Center season, Mr. Belotserkovsky was described as being "always elegant in his arabesques," while Mr. Malakhov was said to be "noble in his stance."

Mr. Taras, co-author of the 1988 biography "George Balanchine: Ballet Master" and now retired from active work in the ballet world, receives accolades whenever Dance Theater of Harlem performs his proven hit, "Firebird." Reviewing a DTH dance outing in The New York Times, Anna Kisselgoff declared that "Firebird" left its audience delirious.

Ms. Kisselgoff wrote: "John Taras's treatment of Stravinsky's music would look persuasive in any context, and in this case, the blaze of color in Geoffrey Holder's exotic sets transports a Russian-inspired folk tale to a tropical clime."

Our stalwart basso, Paul Plishka, received this commendation from The New York Times' Anne Midgette for his performance in the Metropolitan Opera's "La Bohème": Paul Plishka brought Benoit sweetly to life and also played Musetta's wealthy walk-on lover, Alcindoro."

Reviewing a New York City Opera production of the same opera, Ms. Midgette was somewhat less gracious to Misha Didyk, the leading tenor of Ukraine's National Opera in Kyiv. Admitting that the City Opera's new staging was "a little shaky" in Act 1 (which could have caused problems for the singers), Ms. Midgette wrote: "The Rodolfo (Mr. Didyk), muscled his way through Act 1, powering out his notes without much tenderness ... he improved, with more control to his sound, in the last acts."

A note to readers

Some readers have asked whether "Dateline New York" can provide detailed information about operas and ballets. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to list dates and times of all upcoming performances of any given artist. "Dateline New York" can only offer a general preview; for detailed information, the reader should contact a specific organization, be it the American Ballet Opera, the Metropolitan Theater or other organization.

A reader who would like to send a fan letter to a Ukrainian film star has asked for the star's home address. That would be an invasion of privacy, so we ask that fan mail (as well as clippings from readers) be sent to "Dateline New York" via The Ukrainian Weekly (see the masthead on page 2 for the address) or to the e-mail address given at the end of this column. Readers' comments, queries and tips can also be e-mailed to "Dateline New York" and will be given prompt attention.

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

| Home Page |