Bandurist Julian Kytasty performs in Buffalo benefit concert for CCRF (04/13/03)

Bandurist Julian Kytasty performs in Buffalo benefit concert for CCRF

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Chapter of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) hosted a benefit concert on Saturday, March 22, at the historic Albright-Knox Art Gallery featuring renowned bandurist Julian Kytasty. The concert took place against the backdrop of the opening days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the mood of the audience and performer was tempered by the images of war. Mr. Kytasty's program included several poignant selections including a soldier's lament from the first world war and classic "dumy" from the Zaporozhian Kozak era.

The concert received extensive coverage in the Buffalo media and in the city's vibrant artistic community, including a detailed write-up in the March 20 edition of the popular Art Voice newspaper by columnist Erika Leigh Felicetta. The article, which appeared under the headline "Relief in the Form of a Song," provided information about the history of the bandura and the successes of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund in delivering medical aid to Ukraine.

On Friday morning, Mr. Kytasty also appeared on the morning talk show "Good Morning Buffalo" hosted by Linda Pellegrino on WKBW-Channel 7, Buffalo's ABC affiliate. Earlier that morning, Buffalo's National Public Radio Station (WBFO) aired an interview with CCRF Executive Director Alexander Kuzma and played some of Mr. Kytasty's recordings during the morning news program with commentary by local NPR reporter Joyce Kryczak.

The venue for the Saturday concert, the Albright-Knox Gallery is one of America's oldest and most venerable art museums. Prior to the concert, the gallery hosted a fund-raising reception for a smaller contingent of concert-goers and CCRF benefactors, including a tour of several art exhibits featuring the works of Degas, Renoir, Gaugin, Jackson Pollack, and Andy Warhol. Proceeds from the concert were designated for CCRF's new initiative to develop infant cardiac surgery centers and training programs, to help save the lives of thousands of Ukrainian children born each year with congenital heart defects.

At the start of the concert, the vice-president of CCRF's Buffalo Chapter, Laryssa Petryshyn introduced Dorothy Furtney, a legislative assistant to New York State Majority Leader Paul A. Tokaz who read proclamations from the city and county governments welcoming Mr. Kytasty to Buffalo and praising the work of CCRF.

Mr. Kytasty performed a number of works from his latest CD, "Black Sea Winds," released under the November Music Label in London, as well as traditional favorites he had learned from his father Petro Kytasty, and his great uncle Hryhory Trokhymovych Kytasty, the legendary music director of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit. Playing on the modern 52-stringed Chernihivska bandura, the traditional kobza, and the Ukrainian mountain flute, or sopilka, Mr. Kytasty charmed the audience with his virtuosity and his eclectic mixture of dance tunes, ballads and historic epic poems.

After a rousing standing ovation,

Mr. Kytasty concluded the evening with a simple instrumental on the sopilka that he had composed during his travels to Ukrainian settlements in the Brazilian countryside. Titled "Esperanza" ("hope" in Portuguese), the tune served as an understated prayer for better days ahead for Ukraine and for a war-torn world.

Speaking on behalf of CCRF's national office, Executive Director Kuzma thanked the audience for its support. He especially thanked concert organizers, Christine Paszkowsky, Ms. Petryshyn, and volunteers Yuri Hryshchyshyn, Francesca Casa, Roman Marusiak and Ms. Furtney for their outstanding efforts.

The March 22 concert was the latest in a series of concerts that Mr. Kytasty has presented to benefit the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund. Earlier events included concerts with Alexis Kochan-Budyk and the Experimental Bandura Trio at Yale University's Dwight Chapel and at the Church of the New Jerusalem on the campus of Harvard University. As the director of the New York School of Bandura, Mr. Kytasty and his fellow bandurists are available for other concerts to benefit charitable causes in the Ukrainian community. To schedule such a concert, interested parties may reach Mr. Kytasty at (212) 995-2640.

The Buffalo Chapter of CCRF has been one of the most effective in the Relief Fund's national network. During the 2001 Great Lakes Expedition of the Ukrainian schooner Batkivshchyna, the chapter organized a citywide festival at the Erie Marina featuring a multi-ethnic line-up of dancers and musicians, raising thousands of dollars for CCRF. More recently, the Buffalo chapter organized an art project at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center where schoolchildren from Western New York designed colorful prints for CCRF's partner hospital in Lutsk, at the Volynian Regional Children's Medical Center.

The chapter is planning other fund-raising events for the year to come. To get involved, please call Ms. Paszkowsky at (716) 886-5881. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the Buffalo Chapter: Christine Paszkowsky, 86 Livingston St., Buffalo, NY 14213, or they may be sent to the national office: CCRF, 272 Old Short Hills Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078.

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