"Music at the Grazhda" presents its 2006 season program (06/11/06)

"Music at the Grazhda" presents its 2006 season program

by Ika Koznarska Casanova

JEWETT, N.Y. - "Music at the Grazhda," held under the auspices of Music and Art Center of Greene County (MACGC), embarks on its 24th season, presenting a program of seven concerts to be held July 2 through September 2, in the architecturally distinctive Grazhda hall. As part of this season's special events, there will be a Ukrainian film festival, with screenings held on two separate occasions in August.

The season will open on a somewhat different note from the MACGC's traditional classical music concert programming, when, on Sunday, July 2, Vasyl Popadiuk takes center stage, ushering in the Fourth of July weekend celebrations in a concert marked by a vibrant fusion of Slavic and gypsy music.

Mr. Popadiuk, formerly first violin with the orchestra of the Hopak National Ensemble in Kyiv and currently a Toronto-based star soloist who performs world-wide, will appear with his five-member band Papa Duke, in a performance that promises to be stunning, electrifying and passionate. Also featured in the opening concert will be vocalist Marianna Vynnytska.

Prize-winning pianist Serhiy Salov, 27, recipient of the First Grand Prize and Audience Award at the Montreal International Musical Competition (2004) and laureate of the 5th Hamamatsu (Japan, 2003), Tunbridge Wells (United Kingdom, 2002) and the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud (Paris, 2001) international piano competition will appear in concert on July 8.

A native of Donetsk, Mr. Salov studied abroad in Freiburg, Germany, going on to pursue graduate studies in London. He now resides in Montreal. Mr. Salov's recital at the Grazhda marks his first concert appearance in the United States.

A fund-raising concert to benefit the MACGC will be held on July 15 with Yuri Kharenko, violin; Natalia Khoma, cello; and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano.

The "Music at the Grazhda" Chamber Music Society - Alexandre Brussilovsky, violin; Oleksandr Abayev, violin; Borys Deviatov, viola; Natalia Khoma, cello; Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano - will mark its third season as the MACGC's resident ensemble with a concert on July 29.

Baritone Oleh Chmyr, soloist with the New Jersey State Opera and Distinguished Artist of Ukraine, as well as recipient of Ukraine's National Presidential Award and Medal for Art and Culture (2005), will appear in concert on August 5 in a program titled "European Vocal Miniatures."

On Friday, August 11, Andrea Odezynska, an independent filmmaker and a professor of film at the School of Visual Arts, will have two of her award-winning video films screened at the Grazhda: the recently completed new documentary "The Whisperer," about a traditional village healer from Ukraine; and the short comedy film "Dora Was Dysfunctional." Time: 8 p.m.

The children's Ukrainian folk-singing program recital, 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 on August 12.

A selection of some of the best works by Ukrainian filmmakers produced over the course of the last five years will be presented in a program titled "And the Ship Sails on: Ukrainian Cinema Today." Films will be shown on two separate evenings, Friday, August 19 (at 9 p.m.), and Saturday, August 20 (at 6 and 8 p.m.), in the following three categories: short feature, animated and documentary. The films are in Ukrainian with English subtitles. The program presenter is Yuri I. Shevchuk, lecturer of Ukrainian language and culture at the department of Slavic languages of Columbia University, and founder and director of the Ukrainian Film Club.

The final concert of the season, to take place on September 2, will feature the acclaimed Leontovych String Quartet, with Yuri Mazurkevich, violin; Yuri Kharenko, violin; Borys Deviatov, viola; and Volodymyr Panteleyev, cello.

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Founded in 1983 by Ukrainian American composer and musicologist Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky, the Music and Art Center of Greene County has become an established presence in the Catskill region and on the Ukrainian American classical music scene in general. The music director for the series, since 2003, is Mr. Vynnytsky, with Ika Koznarska Casanova, executive director, and Dr. Sonevytsky, honorary chairman of the board.

Concerts are held at the Grazhda on Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., unless otherwise indicated. Tickets - $15, general admission; $12 for members and senior citizens; free for students - are available at the door.

The Grazhda is located on Route 23A in Jewett, N.Y., five miles west of the town of Hunter and two miles east of Lexington. It is within an hour's drive from Albany via the New York State Thruway, Exit 21 - Catskill and two and a half hours from New York City via the thruway, Exit 20 - Saugerties.

Additional information is available by calling Christyna Bodnar Sheldon, press and public liaison, 518-263-4619.

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