"Music at the Grazhda": a preview of the 22nd season

by Ika Koznarska Casanova

JEWETT, N.Y. - "Music at the Grazhda" begins its 22nd season offering a program of classical music concerts and special events held under the auspices of Music and Art Center of Greene County (MACGC). Established in 1983 by Ukrainian American composer and musicologist Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky, MACGC has become an established presence in the region and on the Ukrainian cultural scene in general.

The forthcoming series, which comprises 10 concerts to be held on Saturdays, July 3 through September 4, 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.

Forming part of the summer program will be two special events: an art exhibition held in celebration of the centennial of the birth of the eminent Ukrainian artist Mychajlo Moroz (1904-1992), and an exhibition and guest lecture featuring internationally recognized architect Radoslav Zuk, a professor of architecture at McGill University. (The events will be held on Sunday, July 4, and, Sunday, July 25, respectively.)

The venue for the concerts and special events is the Grazhda, an integral part of the Ukrainian cultural complex built around St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church which, since its founding in 1962, has become an architectural landmark in the Catskill Mountain region.

The music director for the series, since 2003, is Volodymyr Vynnytsky, with Ika Koznarska Casanova, executive director, and Dr. Sonevytsky, honorary chairman of the board.

Below are profiles of the featured performers and guest lecturer - all of whom have taken the time from their busy schedules and commitments nationwide and worldwide, to converge on the Grazhda and make the forthcoming MACGC summer program possible.

* * *

Internationally accomplished violinist Solomiya Soroka and concert pianist Arthur Greene open the concert season on July 3, presenting a program of works by Skoryk, Ravel, Bolcom, Dvorak, Bartók and Wieniawski.

A native of Lviv, Ms. Soroka is a summa cum laude graduate of the Kyiv Conservatory (1995) and holds a D.M.A. degree from the Eastman School of Music (2002). A top prize laureate in the Prokofiev, Lysenko and Zolota Osin international violin competitions, she made her Australian debut in 1994 and her American debut in 1997. Ms. Soroka has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in recitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Referred to in critical reviews as a profound and masterful pianist, Mr. Greene is gold-medal laureate in the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer international piano competitions, and a top laureate at the Busoni International Competition. He has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and has played solo recitals in prestigious halls in the United States, Europe and Asia. His extensive concertizing has included 12 tours of Japan and an appearance, in 2000, with the National Symphony of Ukraine. Mr. Greene is chair of the piano department of the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor; he holds degrees from Yale, The Juilliard School, and the State of University of New York at Stony Brook.

The young soprano Stefania 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 on July 10. A native of Kyiv, Ms. Dovhan is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Music (1988) and the Leopold Mozart Academy of Music in Augsburg/Nurnberg in Germany (2004). Last season Ms. Dovhan took part in an apprenticeship program at the Kyiv Opera and subsequently made her debut in a gala concert of operatic singers. She also made her debut in a solo recital at the National Philharmonic Hall in Kyiv to great critical and public acclaim. This April she came in as a top-10 finalist in the Ferrucio Tagliavini International Vocal Competition (Deutschlandsberg, Austria), at which Joan Sutherland served as president of the jury.

International violin soloist Alexandre Brussilovsky - referred to by Yehudi Menuhin as "a most admired colleague and an excellent musician and violinist" - will arrive from Paris to give a concert at the Grazhda on July 17. Born in Ukraine, Mr. Brussilovsky completed his education and advanced studies at the Moscow Conservatory. He is recipient of the grand prix and the Albert Roussel Special Prize at the Jacques Thibaud Competition (Paris, 1975). Since emigrating to France in 1985, he has formed his own ensemble, Ricercata de Paris, and is founder and artistic director of the international music academy Masters de Pontlevoy and of the chamber music festivals Les MusiCimes (Courcheval, France) and Pont Alexandre III French Music Festival (Moscow). Mr. Brussilovsky will be joined by Mr. Vynnytsky on July 17 in a program titled "César Franck and His Disciples," playing the works of Vierne, Pierné and Franck.

The distinguished piano duo of Luba and Ireneus Zuk, respectively, professor on 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, will appear in concert on July 24 with a program of works by Bruch, Fiala, Pépin, Stankovych, Pårt and Liszt.

The pianists, who perform both as soloists and as a duo, and have appeared in concerts to critical acclaim in North America, Europe and the Far East, are well known for their commitment to the introduction of contemporary music by Ukrainian and Canadian composers to international audiences. Luba Zuk and her brother, Ireneus, are frequent jury members in Canada and at international music competitions. Born in western Ukraine, Luba and Ireneus Zuk are graduates of McGill University and the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec. Ireneus Zuk is a graduate also of the Royal College of Music in London and the Juilliard School in New York, and holds a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

Star of the Kyiv Opera Volodymyr Hryshko (Vladimir Grishko) will appear in concert on July 31. A grand-prize laureate at the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition (Barcelona, 1989), where he was accorded the Plácido Domingo "Best Tenor" title and at the International Vocalists Competition (Toulouse, 1990), Mr. Hryshko has been engaged as leading tenor in Europe and North America.

His European engagements include several seasons with the Kirov Opera under the direction of Valery Gergiev, as well as engagements with L'Opéra de Paris-Bastille, Salzburger Landestheater, Prague State Opera, Czech National Theater, Dresden Opera, Arena di Verona, Opera-Frankfurt and Bregenz Festival, among others.

Mr. Hryshko made his U.S. debut in 1990 as Alfredo in "La Traviata" in Baton Rouge, La. His American engagements include leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Washington Opera and Houston Grand Opera.

Mr. Hryshko gives many solo concerts in Europe and the United States. It is said that whenever he is in Kyiv, he can usually be found on Saturdays and Sundays in the choir loft of Kyiv's St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral.

The July 31 concert is being held in memory of the renowned Ukrainian tenor of the Kyiv Opera Anatoliy Solovyanenko (1932-1999), who appeared in concert at the Grazhda in the summer of 1999.

Internationally acclaimed cellist Vagram Saradjian, grand-prize laureate in the International Cello (Geneva) and Tchaikovsky competitions, will appear in concert with Mr. Vynnytsky on August 7. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of distinguished musicians, Mr. Saradjian studied at the Moscow Conservatory under the tutelage of Mstislav Rostropovich. He has performed with Maestro Rostropovich and such renowned conductors-composers as Kondrashin, Khachaturian, Temirkanov and Maxim Shostakovich. Mr. Saradjian is a member of the string faculty at the University of Houston Moores School of Music and music director of the Schlern International Music Festival held in Italy under the auspices of the UNESCO Italian National Commission. In 1994 Messrs. Saradjian and Vynnytsky received the Distinguished Artists Award in New York City, prior to their critically acclaimed debut in Carnegie Hall.

Internationally active concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky, 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. In addition to performances in capital cities and important musical centers, Mr. Rudnytsky - who to date has played in nearly 80 countries of the world - often performs in places away from the musical mainstream, bringing the pleasure of classical music to audiences which seldom experience this type of music in live performance. Last fall Mr. Rudnytsky performed in Ukraine as soloist with the symphony orchestra of Zaporizhia and was special guest at concerts and programs honoring the memory of his mother, famed opera singer Maria Sokil-Rudnytsky (1902-1999), who hailed from the Zaporizhia region.

Born in New York into a prominent Ukrainian musical family, Mr. Rudnytsky holds degrees from the Juilliard School and the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University; he is, since 1972, a member of the piano faculty of the Dana School of Music of Youngstown State University in Ohio.

The newly formed "Music at the Grazhda" Chamber Music Society - Natalia Khoma, cello; Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin; Randolph Kelly, viola; Yuri Kharenko, violin; and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano - will make its debut appearance in two concerts, slated for August 21 and August 28.

Acclaimed cellist Natalia Khoma has distinguished herself as a recitalist and soloist with leading ensembles and orchestras around the world since winning top prizes at the Budapest Pablo Casals Competition (1985), Markneukirchen (1987) and the Belgrade international cello competitions (1990). She is the first and only Ukrainian cellist to have won the Tchaikovsky Competition (1990). Ms. Khoma studied in Lviv and is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. She is a member of the faculty of the Michigan State University and the University of Connecticut schools of music.

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is a graduate, with highest honors, of the Curtis Institute (2003), where she studied on a full scholarship and was a concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra - the first Ukrainian in the history of the famed institute to hold the prestigious post. A soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Ivakhiv has participated in such well-known music festivals as Tanglewood and Steamboat in the United States, as well as Prussia Cove (England), Holland Music Festival, Henryk Wieniawsky Festival (Poland), and the Normandy Chamber Music Festival (France). A native of Lviv, she is a frequent guest soloist with the Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Lviv Chamber Orchestra.

Concert violinist Yuri Kharenko, a graduate of the Kyiv Conservatory, where he taught violin before emigrating to the United States in 1991, is a regular participant at such music festivals as Mostly Mozart, Newport, Texas Music, Music Mountain, as well as Moscow Autumn, Kyiv, Victoria (Canada), and São Paolo (Brazil). Mr. Kharenko is a former member of the Leontovych String Quartet (1983-2000) and a Merited Artist of Ukraine. Mr. Kharenko teaches at the Hartford Conservatory in Connecticut.

Guest artist Randolph Kelly is principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he has played since 1976, under the direction of André Previn, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons. Mr. Previn once wrote that Mr. Kelly "transformed his section" into what he considered to be "the best viola section of any orchestra in America." In addition to his orchestral career, Mr. Kelly is a celebrated soloist and chamber musician, and has performed as a guest artist at chamber music festivals in Japan, Australia, Europe, Taiwan and Russia. Mr. Kelley is a graduate of the Curtis Institute.

Concert pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky is a laureate of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition (Paris, 1983). Born in Lviv, where he began his music studies, Mr. Vynnytsky is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and former member of the piano faculty at the Kyiv Conservatory.

Since coming to the United States in 1991, his appearances have included recitals in the leading halls of New York as well as the Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and St. John's Square in London. As a chamber musician he has performed with such noted ensembles as the Leontovych, Lysenko, St. Petersburg (Russia) and the Zapolski (Denmark) string quartets.

Mr. Vynnytsky is music director of MACGC. He is a former member of the piano faculty at the State University of New York at Purchase, and a visiting member at the University of Connecticut.

Mr. Vynnytsky will appear in the final concert of the season on September 4 in a solo recital, presenting a program of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. The concert is dedicated to the memory of Oscar Newman,(1935-2004), influential author and internationally known architect and city planner - author of "Creating Defensible Space" (1966). Mr. Newman was a MACGC benefactor and an esteemed friend of the Ukrainian community.

The piano for the concert series is a newly acquired Fazioli grand piano, courtesy of Dr. Viktor Gribenko of New York.

Special events

An exhibition of works by Mychajlo Moroz (1904-1992), the eminent Ukrainian émigré artist of the post-war generation, whose paintings, primarily landscapes as well as portraits, are closely tied to the Expressionist tradition, will open at the Grazhda on Sunday, July 4.

A prolific artist with an impressive body of work to his credit, Mr. Moroz studied with the renowned Ukrainian artist Olexa Novakivsky in Lviv in the 1920s and subsequently in Paris, including the prestigious L'Académie Julian and the studio of Émile Antoine Bourdelle. With the outbreak of war, Mr. Moroz came to the United States in 1949, where he settled permanently, making his home in New York City.

Notable among the artist's American landscapes dating from the 1960s are the natural sites of the West and the seascapes of Maine. Above all, Moroz became identified with the area of Hunter and the Catskills where he spent his summers much as he did in Ukraine, drawing inspiration from the village of Kosmach and the Carpathian Mountains.

An exhibition of architectural drawings and photographs, titled "Radoslav Zuk - Tradition and the Present: Ukrainian Churches in North America and Museum Projects in Ukraine," will open at the Grazhda on Sunday, July 25, featuring the design work of the prominent Ukrainian Canadian architect who gained international recognition for his design of Ukrainian churches in North America. The exhibition of Prof. Zuk's design work has been shown in North America, Europe and the Middle East since its opening at the prestigious Architekturgalerie in Munich in 1996.

Also on July 25, Prof. Zuk, apart from attending the opening of the exhibition, will deliver a lecture on the topic "The Music of Architecture: Harmony and Rhythm in Space." The lecture will be illustrated with transparencies and musical examples.

Prof. Zuk is a frequent guest lecturer in North America and abroad on design theory, the cultural aspects of architecture, and on the relationship between architecture and other arts. He is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal and MIT in Boston. Prof. Zuk is a recipient of a Ukrainian Canadian Congress Centennial Medal and a co-recipient of a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Governor General's Medal for Architecture - the highest architectural honor in Canada.

* * *

The Grazhda is situated in the Hunter area of the Catskill Mountains on Route 23 A in Jewett, N.Y. - five miles west of the village of Hunter and two miles east of Lexington.

Concerts are held at the Grazhda on Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with tickets available at the door. General admission, $15; members and senior citizens, $12; students, free.

General information is available at http://musicandartgc.brama.com. Information is also available by calling (518) 263-4335 (July 1 through September 4).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 13, 2004, No. 24, Vol. LXXII

| Home Page |