Yevshan ensemble teams up with Chorale Connecticut (01/19/03)

Yevshan ensemble teams up with Chorale Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. - The Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble joined forces with Chorale Connecticut on December 7 and 8, 2002, for a pair of concerts featuring Christmas carols and Advent hymns from a variety of European traditions. Titled "An Old World Christmas," the program included works by Hector Berlioz, Randall Thompson, John Carter and Michael Praetorius, as well as Ukrainian seasonal favorites by Kyrylo Stetsenko, Mykola Leontovych and Anatolii Avdievsky.

"This was an exciting musical collaboration between two unique choirs," said Ihor Stasiuk, the president of the Yevshan ensemble, who helped conceive the idea of the joint concert with friends from both ensembles. "The repertoire was both challenging and rewarding, and we were very impressed with the Chorale's ability to master the Ukrainian text and to capture the spirit of such works as Dmytro Bortniansky's choral concerto, "Slava Vo Vyshnykh Bohu" ("Glory to God in the Highest").

The first concert was held at the First Congregational Church in Meriden, Conn., on Saturday evening, December 7, 2002. The two choirs processed into the church singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," first in unison, and then breaking into harmony on the third and fourth verses once all 80 singers assembled before the altar. The women's ensemble from Yevshan then intoned the chant of the Christmas "Irmos" - "A Great and Wondrous Miracle" ("Velychne i Preslavne Chudo") immediately followed by the traditional setting of "O Come All Ye Faithful."

Under the direction of Chorale Connecticut's Dorothy Barnhardt, the combined choir performed Michael Praetorius' beloved Christmas hymns "Lo How a Rose E 'Er blooming" and "In dulci Jubilo," as well as Max Reger's "Virgin Slumber Song" performed by the women's sections only.

Ms. Barnhardt is a well-respected choral conductor and vocal instructor in Connecticut. She studied conducting with Maestro Otto Werner-Mueller during his tenure at Yale University and studied voice with Eva Likova in New York City. She taught voice in the department of music at Choate Rosemary Hall for seven years, and attended the famed Robert Shaw Choral Workshops at Carnegie Hall in 1994 and 1996.

The Meriden concert received extensive coverage in the Record-Journal which covers events in central Connecticut, including a Sunday morning review by music critic Ralph Hohman under the headline "Chorale Connecticut celebrates with Ukrainian flair."

The second concert featuring the same program was a Sunday matinee on December 8 at Welte Auditorium on the campus of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. Following the opening selections, performed by the combined ensemble, each choir of 40 singers took turns performing selections from its own repertoire.

The Yevshan Ensemble, under the direction of Alexander Kuzma, began the second half of the program with several traditional favorites, including the Liudkevych arrangement of "Boh Predvichnyj" (Eternal God) and Stetsenko's "Nebo i Zemlia" (Heaven and Earth Rejoice), accompanied by a trio of bandurists (Daria Richardson, Christina Jamahrian and Irene Kytasty Kuzma). Critic Ralph Hohman seemed particularly impressed with the bandura selections: "Yevshan's three bandura players produced a delicate, festive sound, exotic but still familiar. It sounded like Christmas music even to American ears, and flowed with the voices of the chorus."

Yevshan also performed Avdievsky's haunting epiphanal carol "Pavochka Khodyt," Yatsynevych's "Yerusalymski Dzvony" (The Bells of Jerusalem) and a suite of carols by Stetsenko, ending with "Po Vsiomu Svitu" (Across the World).

The members of Chorale Connecticut then rejoined Yevshan for the four final works in the program: Randall Thompson's "Alleluia," which was first premiered at Tanglewood in 1941, a bilingual version of Leontovych's "Schedryk" (Carol of the Bells), John Carter's arrangement of "O Tannenbaum" and Bortniansky's stirring Christmas concerto "Glory to God in the Highest" (Slava Vo Vyshnykh Bohu).

Both concerts ended with standing ovations, and the combined choirs concluded with "Silent Night" sung in German, Ukrainian and English.

Chorale Connecticut President William Guilfoile said in his welcoming remarks that the experience of working together "has expanded both choruses' family of song," and Ms. Barnhardt and Mr. Kuzma both expressed confidence that the choirs would be collaborating again in the future. Said Ms. Barnhardt: "At Chorale Connecticut, one of our goals is to expand the experience of our audience and also to challenge our singers ... The Christmas concerts with Yevshan were a wonderful way to pursue and realize this goal."

For further information on the Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble and its collaboration with Chorale Connecticut, please contact Mr. Stasiuk at (860) 621-0661.

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