2003: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Culture and the arts: architecture to theater

Yet another round of cultural activity and events has come to a close, with Ukrainians in all facets of culture and the arts capturing public interest and acclaim on both the national and international level and in communities throughout the United States and Canada.

Our year-end review spotlights new as well as emerging artists and continues its coverage of work by established artists and prominent cultural figures who in their respective professional fields continue to make significant contributions to Ukrainian culture.

In the forefront of cultural activities were the following.

Architecture

The year 2003 marked the 40th anniversary of creative work in the field of architectural design and theory of internationally recognized Ukrainian Canadian architect Radoslav Zuk, professor of architecture at McGill University in Montreal and honorary professor of the Kyiv Technical University of Building and Architecture, and co-recipient of a Governor General's Medal for Architecture, the highest architectural honor in Canada. An overview of the work and significance of Prof. Zuk's work appeared in the December 28 issue of The Weekly in an article titled "Tradition and Modernity: Architecture of the Ukrainian Diaspora and Radoslav Zuk," penned by the Toronto-based architect Walter Daschko. The article appeared on the occasion of the exhibit of Prof. Zuk's work, titled "Radoslav Zuk - 'Tradition and Modernity' - Photographs and Drawings," which was on view November 9-23 at the Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation Gallery in Toronto. As part of the exhibit opening, Prof. Zuk delivered a lecture on the topic "Architecture, Environment and Culture."

Restitution of cultural treasures

An agreement was finally reached in the protracted negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian specialists, regarding the restitution of an additional seven frescoes, retained at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, that comprise the plundered art treasures of the landmark St. Michael's of the Golden Domes Cathedral in Kyiv. A meeting of the joint commission of Ukrainian and Russian specialists was held at the Hermitage on October 1-3, with an additional meeting to have been convened in December to finalize the agreement. The Ukrainian members of the joint commission were Serhiy Kot, Olena Serdiuk and Valentyna Vrubelvska. The research was overseen by Dr. Kot, chairman of the Research Center for the Return and Restitution of Cultural Treasures, and by Prof. Yuriy Koreniuk of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts. St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Society, a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., based in Rutherford, N.J., apart from keeping the diaspora community informed as to the matter of restitution, was instrumental in enabling the Ukrainian commission to continue its work by initiating a fund-raising campaign in the Ukrainian American community to raise the requisite additional funds.

Art

A large collection of the works of Vasyl Krychevsky (1873-1952), the renowned Ukrainian artist, architect and designer, was returned to Ukraine half a century after the artist left his homeland at the end of World War II, thanks to the artist's descendants in Caracas, Venezuela - daughter, Halyna Krychevska Linde, and granddaughter, Oksana Linde Ochoa. Comprising the collection are more than 300 oil paintings, watercolors, architectural sketches, book cover designs and theatrical and movie set designs that have been donated by the artist's family to five museums and cultural institutions in Ukraine - the National Museum of Art and the Lavra Book and Cinema museums in Kyiv, the Shevchenko Memorial Museum in Kaniv, the Zemstvo building in Poltava and the Kharkiv Museum of Art. Prior to their return to Ukraine, selected works from the Krychevsky collection were presented in a special exhibition at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington on April 30. Present at the opening were Ms. Linde Ochoa of Caracas and the sponsors of the project, Natalia and Michael Bleyzer of Houston. The return project and the mounting of exhibits in Washington and subsequently, in Ukraine, were sponsored by the investment firm SigmaBleyzer. Also instrumental in the project was E. Morgan Williams, editor of the ArtUkraine Information Service.

An exhibition of paintings and drawings by Kazimir Malevich, titled "Kazimir Malevich: Suprematism" was on view in New York at the Guggenheim Museum on May 13-September 7. The exhibition brought together approximately 120 paintings, drawings and objects drawn from major public and private collections from around the world. The curator for the exhibit and editor of the exhibit catalogue, was Matthew Drutt. A review of the exhibit by Dr. Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, professor in the department of modern languages and cultural studies at the University of Alberta, and author of "Ukrainian Futurism, 1914-1930: An Historical and Critical Study," appeared in the August 31 issue of The Weekly. Referring to the question of nationality and cultural attribution of Malevich (1878-1935), which is variously referenced in the exhibit Dr. Ilnytzkyj bemoaned the fact that, "more than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is still so little sophistication on questions that relate to the cultural heritage of the Russian Empire. Even as facts betray how woefully inadequate and crude the national term 'Russian' is for much of the culture production of the empire, art historians continue to use it without any caveat."

The Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, headed by Walter Nazarewicz, president, provided an opportunity for the public to "visit" Kyiv and see the Ukrainian capital city's rebirth via a multi-media exhibit titled "Renaissance of Kyiv." The photo exhibit showed views of historic Kyiv - sights such as the squares of St. Sophia and St. Michael, the city's ancient churches and the places where noted personages lived - along with the new Kyiv, including the newly restored main train station, the new Independence Square, as well as revitalized cultural institutions, such as the Philharmonic Hall and the National Museum of Fine Arts. A video presented Kyiv 10 years ago, Kyiv under construction and Kyiv today, reflecting the myriad changes that have occurred.

The "Renaissance of Kyiv" exhibition, assembled by Ulana Baczynskyj, Zwen Goy and Roman Goy, was on view at the institute through the end of March. It had opened back on December 10, 2002, when it was officially inaugurated by Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko.

A host of art exhibits filled the galleries of the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York throughout the year, with Walter Hoydysh, UIA vice-president, director of programs. Among the art exhibits were the following: sculptor Gennady Parfeniouk, "The Sphere: Its Metamorphosis and Synthesis with Architecture," (March 21-April 5); the etchings of Oleh Denysenko, "Art Chemistry," (April 24-June 30); Marko Shuhan, abstract vernacular paintings, "33/6 Paint," (May 2-June 9); recent paintings of Anton S. Kandinsky, great-grandson of Vassily Kandinsky, the abstract painter and theorist generally regarded as the originator of abstract art (May 15-October 29); Lubomyr Kuzma, retrospective exhibit, (June 13-November 29); William Michael Dubetz, "25 years of Photographs, Collages, Assemblages" (October 2-11); Yuriy Savchenko, "Between Abstract and Expressive Impressionism," (October 16-November 30); Sergei Belik, "Still Life of Sergei Belik," (October 30-January 9, 2004); Olexander Klymenko, "The Joy of Being," (November 30-January 9, 2004); and, "Reflections and Permutations," an exhibition of new works by Ilona Sochynsky of New Jersey (December 5-January 2004).

Peter Doroshenko, director of the Institute of Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee since 1995, left his position in December to succeed Jan Hoet as director of the Stedelijk Museum voot Actueie Kunst in Ghent, Belgium. Known as SMAK, the municipal museum of contemporary art is considered to be one of the world's foremost showcases for contemporary art.

A symposium titled "East of Art: Transformations in Eastern Europe," sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art's international program and the department of education, and held in conjunction with the museum's recent publication, "Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art Since the 1950s," took place at the MOMA on March 11. The exhibit and publication, which incorporated materials from the majority of post-Communist European countries, were intended to provide, according to co-editors Laura Hoptman and Tomas Pospiszyl, a much-needed context for English-speaking readers to comprehend and appreciate the art of the period in question, which evolved under specific historical and political conditions. The editors, however, omitted Ukraine from consideration.

A retrospective exhibit of the works of Lubomyr Kuzma of Tannersville, N.Y., on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the artist's birth last May, was held at the Ukrainian Institute of America on June 13-November 29 and during the summer at the Ukrainian Cultural Center at the Grazhda in Jewett, N.Y. A native of the Lviv region, Mr. Kuzma was the founder and teacher of an art school in New York (1956-1984) and head of the Association of Ukrainian Artists in America (1964-1973).

The works of Bohdan Soroka, the distinguished artist from Ukraine who heads the department of graphic design at the Lviv Academy of Art, were exhibited in New York in a solo exhibition at the Self Reliance building in an exhibit sponsored by the Verkhovynky Plast Sorority and Ukrainian National Women's League of America Branch 64.

An exhibit by Chicago artist Lialia Kuchma, titled "Tapestries," opened at the Chicago Cultural Center on November 22 as part of three new exhibitions at the prestigious Michigan Avenue Galleries. The exhibit, organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, is on view through January 25, 2004.

Sculptor Christina Shmigel's installation "The Logic of Attachment" - forged and fabricated steel, steel pipe and plumbing fixtures - was on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum as part of a series of exhibitions featuring the work of contemporary artists. Titled "Currents 87: Christina Shmigel," the exhibit was on view December 6, 2002-February 16, 2003.

A leading ceramic artist and painter in Ukraine, Natalia Laluque, who emigrated from Kyiv to Toronto in the fall, presented a new terra cotta sculpture series, alongside works by Canadian ceramicist Wendy Allgate, at the Distillery Gallery New on September 25.

Artist Inka Essenhigh, a graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts whose work has been reviewed in leading art publications and the general print media since 1998, had her new work shown in tandem at 303 Gallery in Manhattan and at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London. The sculpture of another young artist and School of Visual Arts graduate, Tamara Zahaikevich, whose work has been reviewed in New York and Boston publications, was exhibited in March at the Armory Art Fair in Manhattan and her "Pearl Onion" exhibit was shown at the Bellwether Gallery in Brooklyn. Freelance painter and photographer, Taya Hayuk, who recently left San Francisco for New York, had her work "Prototype" exhibited in a group show presented by the migrant gallery Transientnyc in lower Manhattan in April.

New York commercial artist Mark Yurkiw, acclaimed for his advertising design, was engaged in work on various high-profile projects, among them: the Statue of Liberty icon designed for the "New York Cares" coat donation campaign; a fiberglass Easter egg in the shape of the Capitol, which, after having been displayed at the nation's top museums, was to have been auctioned off to raise funds for children's cancer research.

Contemporary Ukrainian culture was showcased in the Bavarian city of Regensburg, Germany, on September 27-November 9, offering six art exhibitions, numerous performances, literary readings, film presentations and lectures, which were held in various institutions of the city with the participation of well-known artists and scholars from Ukraine. The cultural program was made possible with the support of the Bavarian Ministry for Science, Research and Art, and a host of other organizations, including the Ukrainian Free University.

Dance

The American Ballet Theater's spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York featured performances by four dancers born in Ukraine: Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Belotserkovsky, and Olga Dvorovenko, all Kyivites, and Vladimir Malakhov, a native of Kryvyi Rih. Mr. Malakhov, principal artist of ABT and principal guest artist of the Vienna State Opera, appeared with premier ballet dancers José Manuel Carreno, Angel Corella and Thean Steifel in the PBS performance documentary "Dance in America: Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theater" on February 4.

The Syzokryli Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, under the direction of Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky, and the acclaimed Cheres Ukrainian Folk Ensemble, under the direction of Andriy Milavsky, captivated audiences with a stunning program of folk dances and spirited music from the Carpathian Mountain regions in the Music and Dance Festival concert held at New York's Town Hall on January 31. Later in the season, the Syzokryli troupe played a leading role in the annual concert of the European Folk Festival at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Cheres won acclaim during a springtime tour of the Midwest that included 30 concerts in Illinois and Wisconsin and a performance in Davenport, Iowa.

The Hromovytsia Ukrainian dance ensemble of Chicago, under the direction of Roxana Dykyj-Pylypczak, realized its dream to dance in Ukraine this summer, embarking in July on a 17-day tour, with performances in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Kalush, Kolomyia and Uzhhorod.

Another top dance ensemble that has been representing Canada nationally and internationally, the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Winnipeg, presented their 40th anniversary concert at the Centennial Concert Hall on September 12. The ensemble was founded in 1962 by Peter Hladun of St. Catharines, Ontario.

Dancer/choreographer Natalie M. Kapeluck - resident choreographer at Pittsburgh's Southwest Ballet and in her seventh season as a dancer with the Mary Miller Dance Company, and director of the Kyiv Ukrainian Dance Ensemble - appeared with members of the newly formed Slava Modern Dance Company, of which she is founder and choreographer, in a premiere performance at the prestigious Cleveland Public Theater on March 15.

Film and television

The long-awaited documentary film, "Between Hitler and Stalin - Ukraine in World War II - The Untold Story," produced and directed by Slavko Nowytski for the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center and narrated by Jack Palance, premiered in Toronto on September 28. The one-hour documentary portrays the titanic struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that took place on Ukraine's territory which was laid waste by both war machines. The film documents Ukraine's contribution to the war against totalitarianism and the price Ukraine paid for its independence. The documentary had its U.S. premiere in Washington on November 10. A Ukrainian-language version of the film is to be ready by spring. Comments on the documentary by Mr. Nowytski appear in the November 9 issue of The Weekly.

The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) acquired a private collection of Ukrainian films in summer that makes Harvard a premier center for scholars of Ukrainian cinematography, as well as experts interested in Soviet and various East European cinemas, history and culture. The collection comprises 11 full-length feature films made between the mid-1930s and the early 1980s, and Soviet propaganda films, documentaries and shorts. The collection was donated to the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute by Walter Hayduk of Montreal; a donation agreement between HURI and HFA was negotiated in June.

Sony Classics released Lisa Cholodenko's second feature film, "Laurel Canyon," starring Frances McDorm and Christian Bale. The film opened in New York and Los Angeles in February/March.

Among the latest films of Hollywood filmmaker and producer Paul Maslak of Berkley, Calif., were the suspense thriller "The Right Temptation," the police thriller "Primary Suspect," the black comedy "Kiss Toledo Goodbye" and the martial arts action movie "Red Sun Rising."

For the third time in the past 10 years, game show host Alex Trebek of the popular "Jeopardy" show was named Outstanding Game Show Host. The award was presented during the Daytime Emmy Awards presentation at New York's Radio City Music Hall in May.

Music

Ukrainian American violinist Oleh Krysa, professor at the Eastman School of Music and former prominent student of David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory, was among the featured performers in the "Masterpieces of the Russian Underground" concert series presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall on January 24-February 2. Among composers featured in the program was the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov whose compositions, String Quartet No. 1 and "The Messenger" for Solo Piano, were performed in the series titled "Song of Innocence and Experience: Serialism and Post-modern Style." The concert series was curated and directed by pianist Vladimir Feltsman. Featured performers in the concert series were Mr. Feltsman, piano; Gary Hoffman, cello; Ani Kavafian, violin, Mr. Krysa, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; and David Shifrin, artistic director, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, clarinet.

Soprano Maria Guleghina, who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York 12 years ago, appeared in the title role of the Washington Opera Company's production of Verdi's "Aida" in seven performances, between February 22 and March 11. The Odesa-born diva captivated sold-out audiences and garnered critical acclaim, with Washington music critics smitten with her performance. The Washington Post music critic Tim Page concluded his accolade by stating that, "For all of her Ukrainian heritage, Guleghina has Verdi in her veins." Although not her first appearance with the Washington Opera, with which she has previously gone on tour, this was Ms. Guleghina's official Washington debut.

Alexander Slobodyanik appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony in the American premiere of contemporary composer Alexander Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Two Pianos, with Mariss Jansons conducting, and pianist Yefim Bronfman in a concert titled "Triple Tchaikovsky" on February 22.

A memorial concert held in honor of composer Antin Rudnytsky (1902-1975) and his wife, Ukrainian opera singer Maria Sokil (1902-2002), was held in New York at the Ukrainian Institute of America on March 30. Later in the year, the honorees' son, concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky, member of the piano faculty of the Dana School of Music of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, traveled to Ukraine in October to play with the symphony orchestra of the city of Zaporizhia. Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Rudnytsky informed of the plans under way in the city of Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and the town of Orikhiv (Zaporizhia Oblast) to honor the memory of his mother, Maria Sokil, who came from the Zaporizhia region. A competition for young singers and scholarships will be established in the opera singer's name.

The Lubka Kolessa Piano Scholarship Fund was established by the faculty of music at McGill University in Montreal to commemorate the legendary concert pianist (1902-1997) and a McGill faculty of music professor from 1960 through 1971. Initiated by former students and friends of Ms. Kolessa, the scholarship is to be awarded annually to an outstanding piano student enrolled in the faculty of music.

The faculty of music at McGill University presented the Luba and Ireneus Zuk Piano Duo in a concert of works for two pianos in Pollack Concert Hall on October 28. Included in the concert program were the world premiere of Yevhen Stankovych's "Ancient Dances of Verkhovyna" (2002), as well as performances of the Sonata for Two Pianos (1970) by Ukrainian Canadian composer George Fiala. A review of the concert by Thomas Davidson appeared in the November 16 issue of The Weekly.

Winners of the fifth International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz held in Kyiv - Tsimur Shcharbakou (Belarus), Rachel Ching (China), and Oleksandr Chugay (Ukraine) - appeared in concert at New York's Merkin Concert Hall in October. The event was part of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Horowitz, who was born and studied in Kyiv.

Volodymyr Koshuba, a world-traveled leading concert organist from Ukraine, on his eighth U.S. tour since 1994, embarked on a short, two-week tour with five performances in two states in October-November: in Madison and Beloit, Wis., and in Rochester, Alexandria and Albert Lea, Minn. On this tour Mr. Koshuba shared the spotlight with his 12-year-old daughter, Viktoriya, a gold-medal winner in recent international piano competitions in Turin and Paris.

The Ukrainian Institute of America's "Music at the Institute" series, under the artistic direction of Mykola Suk, presented the following concerts for the year 2003: "Reconstructing Mozart," with Yuri Kharenko, violin, Jeffrey Solow, cello, Mykola Suk, paino (January 25); Vienna Piano Trio, (Austria), (February 22); "Natalia Khoma and Friends," with Ms. Khoma, cello, Mr. Kharenko, violin, Daniel Panner, viola, Jerome Rose, piano; and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano (April 12); "Mykola Suk and Friends," with Naoko Tanaka and Calvin Wiersma, violins, Ah Ling Neu and Kirsten Johnson, violas, Gregory Hesselink, cello, and Mr. Suk, piano, (October 25); Leipzig String Quartet, Germany, (November 15); and, Jerome Lowenthal, piano, and the Avalon String Quartet (December 6).

The Washington Group Cultural Fund, under the direction of Laryssa Courtney, and with the patronage of the Embassy of Ukraine, presented the following concerts at the Lyceum, in Alexandria, Va.: Leontovych String Quartet, featuring Oleh Krysa, first violin, Borys Deviatov, viola; Vladimir Panteleyev, violoncello, and Jassen Todorov, violin, with Tatiana Tchekina, piano (March 9); Stefan Szkafarowsky, bass (April 6); Lydia Artymiw, piano (May 18); winners of the 5th International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz - Rachel Ching, Oleksandr Chugay and Tsimur Shcharbakou (October 5); Natalia Khoma and Suren Bagratuni, cellos, and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano (November 16).

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago presented the following concerts, as part of its 12th season: Valentina Lysytsa and Alexei Kuznetsoff, piano duo, (March 9); Lydia Artymiw, piano (May 4). Somiya Soroka, violin, and Arthur Greene, piano (October 19); and Alex Slobodyanik, piano (December 7).

The Music and Art Center of Greene County embarked on its 21st season under the direction of its new music director, pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky, presenting the following concerts as part of the "Music at the Grazhda" series: concert pianist Alexander Slobodyanik in the opening concert of the season (July 5); Laryssa Krupa, piano, and Adrian Bryttan, violin (July 19); stage and cinema actor and director Gregory Hlady of Montreal in a one-man theatrical presentation (July 26); lyric soprano Halyna Wolanska, (August 2); acclaimed recitalist and soloist with orchestras Neal Larrabee, (August 16); recitalists and international laureates cellist Natalia Khoma and Mr. Vynnytsky (August 23); special guest artist, composer Myroslav Skoryk, in a presentation based on his opera "Moisei" (Moses), with baritone Oleh Chmyr in the title role (August 30); and the Forte String Quartet - Mikhail Kuchuk and Oleksander Abayev, violin, Roumi Petrova, viola, Kalin Ivanov, cello - with Yuri Kharenko, violin, Ms. Khoma, cello, and Mr. Vynnytsky, piano (August 31).

Baritone Oleh Chmyr appeared with the New Jersey State Opera in Leoncavallo's one-act opera "Pagliacci" in the role of Silvio at the New Jersey Performing Art Center in February.

Lyric soprano Halyna Wolanska and bass-baritone Taras Kulish, both of Montreal, presented a recital of opera arias and duets, including operatic Ukrainian repertoire, as well as German lieder and French melody, on April 19 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall of Concordia University. In the fall, Mr. Kulish appeared with the Manitoba Opera in Winnipeg in the role of Leporello in "Don Giovanni," a role in which he continues to have great success and garners critical acclaim.

Four Ukrainian singers - baritone Vassily Gerello, tenors Vladimir Grishko and Viktor Lutsiuk, bass-baritone Mikhail Kit - principals in the Kirov Opera of St. Petersburg, appeared in title or principal roles in five of the six works staged by the Kirov at the Metropolitan Opera in July. Presented were Verdi's "Macbeth," Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," Rymsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" and the North American premiere of Prokofiev's Soviet-period opera "Semyon Kotko" (1940), which is set in Ukraine. A symposium on "Semyon Kotko," with Prof. Simon Morrison of Princeton University as moderator, was held at Lincoln Center on July 9.

New York City Opera diva Oksana Krovytska returned to the NYCO stage after a two-year absence to sing the role of Liu in Puccini's "Turandot," a role she performed to great acclaim during nine consecutive years with the company. The first-night performance was held October 28.

Prominent Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk and baritone Oleh Chmyr presented a program featuring arias from Maestro Skoryk's opera "Moisei" (Moses), which had its premiere in Lviv in 2001, with their first appearance at the "Music at the Grazhda" summer concert series in Jewett, N.Y. (August 30); followed by performances at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington (September 8); the Swedenborg Chapel in Cambridge, Mass. (September 13); and St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, N.J. (September 20).

A musical tribute to Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912) on the 160th anniversary of his birth, featured the Dumka Chorus of New York, under the direction of Vasyl Hrechynsky, with soprano Oksana Krovytska, tenor Mykhail Kreven, cellist Natalia Khoma, tenor Roman Tsymbala, baritone Oleh Chmyr, and pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky in a concert held at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York on October 26.

Works by five contemporary Ukrainian composers in the genre of avante-garde music were featured at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago in mid-September. The program of works included Virko Baley's "Emily Dickinson Songbook"; Roman Yakub's "The Middle of the Void (C.A.G.E.)"; Alexander Shchetynsky's "Way to Meditation"; Sergey Pilyutikov's, "Together with Light Air" and Boguslaw Schaeffer's "Project for Bassoon and Tape." The composers were selected by William Jason Raynovich, artistic director of the MAVerick Ensemble, a performance group resident at the institute.

Composer Virko Baley's monumental chamber work "Treny" (Laments) for Two Violoncellos and Soprano (1996-1999) had its West Coast premiere on November 12 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in the Leo S. Bing Theater. Featured performers at the concert were cellists Natalia Khoma and Andrew Smith, and soprano Christine Seitz.

New York-based musician/singer Julian Kytasty, whose life revolves around the propagation of bandura art and Ukrainian music, performed at the historic Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo in March; at the citywide People's Poetry Gathering in New York in April; and during a four-day tour of Texas in September that took him to Houston and the Dallas/Forth Worth area. He presented recitals that were received most enthusiastically by the American and Ukrainian community audience.

The Detroit-based Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, composed of talented artists from across North America, has a long and proud history of representing Ukrainian bandura and choral music on the international stage since its founding in 1918. In June, under the artistic direction of its conductor Oleh Mahlay, the chorus celebrated its 85th anniversary, presenting concerts in Toronto and Windsor, Ontario, as well as Detroit and Cleveland, before departing for its historic tour of Europe. Performance stops on the tour included Manchester and London, England; Paris, Strasbourg and St. Avold, France; Munich, Germany; and Vienna, Austria.

A music library has been established on the Internet to honor the memory and perpetuate the musical legacy of Hryhory Kytasty (1907-1984), renowned composer and conductor of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, on the centenary of Maestro Kytasty's birth. Founded by Andrij Kytasty, Maestro Kytasty's son, the mission of the California-based Kytasty Foundation is to provide an educational resource of Ukrainian culture. A special section features the entire collection of works by Maestro Kytasty.

The "Paris to Kyiv" project, initiated by Alexis Kochan in 1996, which toured North America with different musicians through the years and is particularly popular with CBC radio audiences in Canada, performed its first three-country European concert tour in May, starting with Belgrade's Ring-Ring Festival Serbia, and followed by concerts in Kyiv, Lviv and Chernihiv, Ukraine, where the group played to fantastic receptions and standing-room only crowds. The tour finished in Poland, with appearances in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Krakow. The tour marked the first time that the group played in Ukraine, presenting traditional Ukrainian music - in a new way.

Oksana Bilozir, Ukraine's pop singer/diva and deputy to Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, made her debut concert North American tour, with an appearance at the Millennium Theater in Brooklyn in February. On February 10 Ms. Bilozir addressed the Ukrainian community in an open format community meeting in her role as national deputy to Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada from the Our Ukraine political bloc at the Ramada Hotel in East Hanover, N.J.

The punk rock band Gogol Bordello and lead singer Eugene Hutz toured 20 cities during their North American tour in March, followed by a European fall tour that included a stop in Kyiv. Gogol Bordello was also featured in a new W.W. Norton publication titled "Crossing the BLVD," a cross-media project that documents and portrays the lives, images, sounds and stories of new immigrants and refugees who have lived in the borough of Queens, the most ethnically diverse locality in the U.S.

Braty Blyuzu - Myroslav and Oleh Levytsky, Andriy Melnyk, Stefan Kuziv and Andriy Vintsersky, and solo singer Marianna Vynnytsky appeared in their first major concert in New York City on November 9 at the Ukrainian National Home, offering a wide spectrum and mix of popular music drawing from the extensive Braty repertoire, including the group's latest compositions, as well as songs with lyrics by Ms. Vynnytsky.

Justin Time Records released another John Stetch CD, titled "Standards," which Mr. Stech introduced with a series of concerts, including appearances at the Jazz Standard in Greenwich Village, the Ukrainian Institute of America and WNYC's "Soundcheck" show.

The Ukrainian Museum and Archives (UMA) in Cleveland initiated a project to conserve its entire collection of 20th century Ukrainian recordings - produced both in Ukraine and in the diaspora, by transferring its vinyl records collection to compact discs. The project is overseen and funded by the Stecyk Family, with Dr. Orest Stecyk as the project recording manager.

New music publications of the retro music of Bohdan Wesolowsky (1915-1971), popular in the Lviv of the 1930s and subsequently in the diaspora of the 1960s, and which is experiencing a revival today, came out in a two-volume publication in Lviv, with Oleksander Zelynsky, as editor. The two books, titled "Pryide Sche Chas" ("The Time Will Come") and "Ya Znov Tobi" (Again For You"), along with a forthcoming third volume, will contain all the known work of the composer in recent years. A special concert dedicated to the music of Bohdan Wesolowsky was held at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Chicago on June 8.

Literature

Lydia Palij - poet and literary activist, organizer of writers from Ukraine for the annual International Festival of Authors, spokesman for Ukrainian dissidents in the Canadian branch of PEN International, active member of several Canadian literary associations, and widely published essayist and poet - was awarded a Golden Jubilee Medal. Created to mark Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee as queen of Canada, the medal was awarded to "Canadian citizens who have made outstanding and exemplary contributons to the community or to Canada as a whole." Ms. Palisj was nominated for the award by the Festival of Authors organization.

A literary evening of Yuriy Tarnawsky, the well-known poet, prosaist, playwright and translator, was presented by the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York on January 25. Selections from recent works included the Polish edition of the author's early work in a translation by Tadeusz Karabowicz, titled "Oto Jak Zdrowiej," as well as Mr. Tarnawsky's English translation of poetry by the Ukrainian poet Volodymyr Tsybulko from the collection "Angels in a Pyramid" and the short story "Lenin's Brain," a humorous phantasy from Mr. Tarnawsky's collection "Short Tails."

Irene Zabytko, critically acclaimed author of the novel, "The Sky Unwashed," was on tour with her second book, "When Luba Leaves Home," a collection of short stories based on her Ukrainian Chicago neighborhood. Ms. Zabytko, whose work was awarded the PEN syndicated Fiction Award and has been broadcast on NPR's "The Sound of Writing," was a featured panelist at the Chicago Tribune 19th Annual Printer's Row Book Fair held June 7-8. Apart from discussing her book and its origins, The Tribune also interviewed Ms. Zabytko for an upcoming feature about immigrant and ethnic literature in America.

Photography

A U.S.-Ukraine photography exhibit titled "Halves," held simultaneously in Cincinnati and Kharkiv, was presented by Guennadi Maslov, who moved from Kharkiv to Cincinati 10 years ago. The exhibit was billed as "an almost impossible combination of post-Soviet Ukraine and American Midwest ... as part of a never-ending quest to illustrate the fragile dualities of human nature." The "Halves" exhibit opened at the Kharkiv Arts Museum on August 22 and returned to the U.S. where it opened at the Carnegie Center in Covington, Ky., on September 5.

The photography exhibit titled "Ukrainians-Ukrainians" by Ihor Haidai, was on view in October at the Center for Contemporary Art at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Consisting of 120 photographs, the exhibit was an attempt to create a collective portrait of Ukrainians.

Theater

The Yara Arts Group, under the direction of Virlana Tkacz, presented a music-theater piece titled "Swan," based on an eponymous poem by contemporary Ukrainian poet Oleh Lysheha, at La Mama Theater in New York in June. The poem, which is contained in the "Selected Poems of Oleh Lysheha" (Harvard University, 1999), and appears in a translation by the poet James Brasfield, won the PEN Translation Prize last year. The production featured composer/cellist Paul Brantley and blues vocalist Meredith Wright; with set, light and costumes by Watoku Ueno, and video by Andrea Odezynska. The cast included Yara artists Andrew Colteaux and Soomi Kim. The show, performed in English, once again reflected Yara's commitment to cross-cultural understanding by presenting an original piece created by multicultural artists that is based on masterpieces of art, literature and music focusing on cultures that are little-known in the West.

The Yurii Drohobych Drama Theater of Lviv Oblast, a group of professional actors touring the United States and Canada this fall, presented "Tears of the Virgin Mary," a powerful performance that reveals the horrors of Ukraine's Terror-Genocide of the 1930s. The New York performance was held October 25 at St. Geroge Ukrainian Catholic School.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 11, 2004, No. 2, Vol. LXXII

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