Enjoy classical music concerts, special events and workshops at the Grazhda (05/02/04)

A Ukrainian Summer: where to go, what to do...

Enjoy classical music concerts, special events and workshops at the Grazhda

by Ika Casanova

JEWETT, N.Y. - The Music and Art Center of Greene County (MACGC) embarks on its 22nd season, and its second season - with Volodymyr Vynnytsky, music director and Ika Koznarska Casanova, executive director - offering a program of classical music concerts, special events and workshops.

The highlight of the summer season - the "Music at the Grazhda" series _ will comprise 10 concerts, to be held on Saturdays, July 3 through September 4. The series will feature masterful and distinguished musicians, including international soloists and grand-prize laureates, as well as highly promising and quickly rising young musicians from North America and Europe.

The opening concert of the season, to be held July 3, will feature internationally accomplished violinist Solomiya Soroka, a graduate of the Kyiv Conservatory who holds a DMA degree from the Eastman School of Music, and concert pianist Arthur Greene, Gold Medal winner in the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer international piano competitions, and chair of the piano department at the University of Michi-gan School of Music in Ann Arbor.

On July 10 the young soprano, Ste-fania Dovhan, first prize winner in the Schloss Leopoldskron Voice Competition (Salzburg, Austria, 2003) and Gold Medal winner in the Rosa Ponselle Young Classical Singers Competition (2001), will appear in recital at the Grazhda.

International violin soloist Alexandre Brussilovsky, recipient of the Grand Prix and the Albert Roussel Special Prize at the Jacques Thibaud Competition (Paris, 1975), will arrive from Paris to give a concert at the Grazhda on July 17.

On July 24, MACGC welcomes the distinguished piano duo of Luba and Ireneus Zuk, respectively, professor in the faculty of music at McGill University in Montreal and professor and former director of the School of Music at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The Zuk Duo is known for its commitment to the introduction of contemporary music by Ukrainian and Canadian composers to international audiences.

Star of the Kyiv Opera, tenor Volodymyr Grishko (Hryshko) will appear in concert on July 31. Since winning the grand prize at the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition (Barcelona, 1989), where he was accorded the Plácido Domingo "Best Tenor" title, Mr. Hryshko has been engaged as leading tenor at, among others, the Kirov Opera, L'Opéra de Paris-Bastille, Salzburger Landestheater, New York City Opera and The Metropolitan Opera.

Internationally acclaimed cellist Vagram Saradjian, grand-prize laureate in the International Cello (Geneva) and Tchaikovsky competitions, returns to the Grazhda from Texas, where he is a member of the string faculty at the University of Houston, for a concert appearance on August 7.

Internationally active concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky, who comes from a prominent Ukrainian musical family and whose performances held under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy's public diplomacy program take him all over the world, will be featured at the Grazhda on August 14.

The two concerts slated for August 21 and August 28 will mark the debut appearance of the newly formed Music at the Grazhda Chamber Music Society. Featured musicians are acclaimed cellist Natalia Khoma - laureate at the Pablo Casals, Tchaikovsky and Belgrade international cello competitions; Solomiya Ivakhiv, a recent graduate, with highest honors, of the Curtis Institute and concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra; concert violinist Yuri Kharenko, former member of the Leontovych String Quartet and a Merited Artist of Ukraine; concert pianist and MACGC Music Director Volodymyr Vynnytsky - laureate of the Margueritte Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris; and special guest artist Randolph Kelly, principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who in addition to his illustrious orchestral career is renowned as a soloist and chamber musician.

The season will draw to a close on September 4 with Mr. Vynnytsky appearing in a solo recital. Mr. Vynnytsky will also appear in concert on July 17 and August 7.

Courtesy of Dr. Viktor Gribenko, a practicing physician in New York and president of Kolo Inc., MACGC has acquired a Fazioli - considered to be among the finest grand pianos - for the concert series.

A special event of the season will be an exhibition opening and guest lecture featuring internationally recognized architect Radoslav Zuk, a professor of architecture at McGill University in Montreal, on Sunday, July 25, at 1 p.m. The exhibition, "Radoslav Zuk - Tradition and the Present: Ukrainian Churches in North America and Museum Projects in Ukraine," will be on view at the Grazhda, balcony section, through Labor Day weekend. The topic of the lecture is "The Music of Architecture: Harmony and Rhythm in Space"; the lecture will be illustrated with transparencies and musical examples.

As part of its program MACGC also offers workshops in Ukrainian folk arts: pysanky and ceramics, with New York-based artist Sophia Zielyk, instructor (August 2-6); embroidery, with Lubow Wolynec, curator and librarian at the Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford, Conn., instructor (August 9-13); and gerdany (bead necklace stringing), instructor to be announced (August 9-13).

The two-week Ukrainian folk-singing program, under the direction of Anna Bachynska, former soprano with the Lviv Opera and currently, a music teacher and choir director in New York City, will be held August 2-13. The program is devised for children age 4-9. The very popular children's recital, which includes a storytelling-based theater presentation, will take place on Sunday, August 15.

The workshops are held daily, Monday-Friday. Fees: one-week workshops, $40; the two-week folk-singing program, $70. For additional information and to register for the workshops or program by June 30, call Ms. Zielyk, (212) 533-6419; Mrs. Wolynec, (203) 327-7899 (work); or Ms. Bachynska, (718) 271-9387. The workshops are funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts.

An integral part of the Ukrainian cultural complex built around St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, the Grazhda is situated in the Hunter area of the Catskill Mountains on Route 23 A in Jewett, N.Y. Concerts are held at the Grazhda on Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with tickets available at the door.

Profiles of the performers and guest lecturer, as well as general information - including performance schedules, changes and updates, as well as driving directions and membership information - will be available online (effective June) at http://musicandartgc.brama.com. Information is also available by calling (973) 509-9453 (April-June 30) and (518) 263-4335 (July 1 through September 4).

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