KammerFest 2003 to celebrate 50th jubilee of Lysenko Music Institute

by Roman Sawycky

TORONTO - The Lysenko Music Institute of Toronto is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a festival of classical music billed as "KammerFest 2003." The festival, which serves as a showcase for Ukraine's musical heritage, features performances by the Lysenko Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of its present director, Orest Kovaliw, and guest artists from Canada, the United States and Ukraine. Among the featured performers are pianists Katya Lebedyeva and Nayida Magomedbekova.

The festival offers a wide range of classical repertoire - works by Mozart, Schubert, Ravel, and Bartok - and includes premieres of rare Ukrainian works by Dmytro Bortniansky, Myroslav Skoryk, Levko Kolodub, Ivan Karabyts, Yevhen Stankovych and Valentyn Silvestrov. Forming part of the festival is a separate "Pops" concert.

The festival, which opened on September 4 and runs through September 14, is being held at St. Anne's, 270 Gladstone Ave.

Since its founding in 1953 by the distinguished conductor, violinist and accomplished poet Ivan Kovaliw, the institute has established itself as a premiere institution known for the excellence of its music education program and performances. The institute's Lysenko Chamber Orchestra has been critically acclaimed during its North American concert tours and has been featured on WQXR, the classical music radio station of The New York Times, hosted by Robert Sherman.

With the passing of Maestro Kovaliw in the 1980s, his son, Orest Kovaliw, himself a noted conductor, became the director of the Lysenko Music Institute. The institute's 10-day anniversary celebration has been staged by Orest Kovaliw on a scale that is usually found only in Kyiv and Lviv.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 7, 2003, No. 36, Vol. LXXI

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