NEWS AND VIEWS: Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, 85 years and growing, looks ahead to the future (12/08/02)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, 85 years and growing, looks ahead to the future

by Anatoli W. Murha

Ben Franklin once said, "Well done is better than well said," and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is utilizing this principle in planning for its future. In the competitive context of our culturally diverse world, the chorus has initiated an artistic and administrative plan, "Looking to the Future," that strikes an accord in both serving our Ukrainian community, and promoting our art, "kobzarstvo," on the world stage.

Over the last two years the chorus has taken an alter approach in perpetuating the Ukrainian musical heritage. Two excellent examples of the latter are the collaborative Christmas concerts with Vesnivka - the award-winning women's choir from Toronto, and the Sacred Music Concert Series celebrating the genius of Ukrainian composers. In both of these venues we performed on stages and in cathedrals across North America, enchanting the public with choral art. Many of our listeners were non-Ukrainians - they were mesmerized by the lament of the bandura.

With these successes and others, the UBC's executive board and Artistic Council have set the bar higher for the next two seasons. In 2003, the UBC will celebrate 85 years of promulgating choral and bandura art, and a series of performances in North America will serve as a prelude to a concert tour of Western Europe. We will perform in ancient cathedrals and world-class concert halls in England, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The Chorus last performed in Europe in 1958.

Our formidable challenge is to introduce our unique sound and story to a new generation of world music listeners, as well as rekindle national pride and appreciation with our brothers and sisters. In order to assure our success in this historic project, we have engaged the services of a professional touring company along with the assistance of our Ukrainian representatives in Europe.

In our preparation for the 2003 and 2004 season, the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus has initiated a capital fund-raising campaign through the assistance of a Detroit consulting firm. Our future projects include tours of Western Canada and the United States, bandura workshops and scholarships for bandura camps, lecture series to universities and colleges, children's music programs and recordings.

With the Looking to the Future Program, the chorus seeks to implement a strategic plan that will expand its artistic and administrative capacity, as well as develop a long-term vision for the future. The success of the program will ensure the ability of our organization to create a solid financial base for future expansion, strengthen the organization's programs and leadership, and improve opportunities for long-term planning.

In order to attract gifted and talented musicians - the lifeline of our collective - the chorus must appear on the world stage presenting our rich musical heritage to the public. Through long-term artistic strategies coupled with capital means, the missions of the bandurists can be realized and the lifeline continued. Associations with professional musicians and performing artists, partnerships with communities and corporations, international linkages with musicology become feasible.

The "Looking to the Future" program would not be possible without the diversity of talent in our executive board and Artistic Council. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, professors, businessmen and students, to mention but a few, energize the vision and pathway of the bandurists' in their world quest of recognition and acknowledgment.

In continuing the efforts of the late Hryhory Kytasty, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, Ivan Zadorozhnyj, Petro Potapenko, Volodymyr Bozhyk and Petro Honcharenko, we are hoping that you will be interested in becoming part of our community support group. Along with the countless individuals and organizations, our family is ever expanding, assuring the chorus a future.

Since 1949 when the Chorus first set foot on American soil, your moral and financial support has fueled and spirited a tradition and legacy that has been preserved and celebrated worldwide. If you would like to join our chorus family, please call us and let's talk, (734) 658-6452, or log on to our website, www.bandura.org.

Anatoli W. Murha is the president of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus.

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