Bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka launches new CD of classical songs by Stetsenko (10/01/06)

Bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka launches new CD of classical songs by Stetsenko

by Daria Darewych

TORONTO - British-born Ukrainian bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka launched his recording of "Kyrylo Stetsenko - The Art Songs" at a reception at Toronto's newly opened opera house, the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts.

The event was held on Thursday, September 14, during the opening week festivities of the first Canadian production of Richard Wagner's tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Ring of the Nibelung) by the Canadian Opera Company.

The double CD, 42-track recording, is the first by Mr. Hunka in "The Ukrainian Art Song Series" documenting unrecorded Ukrainian classical songs. The CD launch was planned to coincide with Mr. Hunka's performance in the role of Wotan/the Wanderer in three complete cycles of the Ring opera.

Most unfortunately, at the last minute Mr. Hunka had to withdraw due to illness - the unexpected onset of diabetes. However, the planned CD launch took place as scheduled with Mr. Hunka and Richard Bradshaw, the director of the Canadian Opera Company Company, in attendance.

In his endorsement of this first-of-its-kind CD project, Mr. Bradshaw described Mr. Hunka as "one of the great singing actors of our day." According to Mr. Bradshaw, "Hunka has a magnificent command of text in several languages, an arresting stage presence, and a dramatic instrument which allows him to sing the great bass and bass-baritone roles." At the launch Mr. Bradshaw also stated that the songs are remarkable.

Born in England to a Ukrainian father and an English mother, Mr. Hunka embarked on a music career following his studies in modern languages and a reputable career as a lawyer. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in the United Kingdom and began performing at the Basel Opera Company in Switzerland.

He has performed in more than 50 operas, including 35 major operatic roles in the world's leading opera houses, and with many renowned conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Jeffrey Tate and Peter Schneider.

He made his Toronto debut with the Canadian Opera Company in 2004, and did so to great acclaim singing the title role of Verdi's "Falstaff" and the role of Hunding in Wagner's "Die Walküre."

"Kyrylo Stetsenko - The Art Songs" was produced by Toronto-born Ukrainian composer Roman Hurko. It was recorded in the Glenn Gould Studio in 2005. Besides Mr. Hunka, it features performances by Canadian tenor Benjamin Butterfield, baritone Russell Braun (sung in excellent Ukrainian), cellist Roman Borys and pianist Albert Krywolt.

Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher and community activist Kyrylo Stetsenko composed a musical repertoire that includes songs for solo voice and chorus, operatic and religious works, scores for plays, two operas for children and songbooks compiled for school and home use.

Born in 1882 in Kvitky, Ukraine, he graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy in 1903, taught music at the pedagogical institute, conducted church and secular choirs, and continued studying composition at the Lysenko Music and Drama School. He also taught music at a local school and at a high school in Bila Tserkva and Tyvriv in the Vinnytsia region.

In 1911 Stetsenko was ordained as a pastor in a small Ukrainian village near Tomashpil. He was recruited to the music department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education in 1917. Stetsenko died in 1922 at the age of 40 in Vapryk, Ukraine.

"Kyrylo Stetsenko - The Art Songs" will be on sale at the Canadian Opera Store at the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts, at classical music stores, as well as online at www.musicaleopolis.com. Included in the CD package are the lyrics to all of the 42 songs in Ukrainian, English, French and German, as well as brief comments on each song.

Among the recorded songs are several composed to the words of such well-known Ukrainian poets as Oleksander Oles, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, Taras Shevchenko, Borys Hrinchenko, Mykola Voronyi, Panas Myrny and Petro Karmanskyi.

"The Ukrainian Art Song Series" is a project of the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association. Ukrainian composers whose works will be recorded by Mr. Hunka in the series in the future include Mykola Lysenko, Yakiv Stepovyi, Borys Liatoshynsky, Yulii Meitus, Heorhii Maiboroda, Mykhailo Lopatynsky, Stanislav Liudkevych, Yevhen Stankovych and Valentyn Sylvestrov.

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