Newark parish's Christmas concert celebrates the season's true meaning (12/31/06)

Newark parish's Christmas concert celebrates the season's true meaning

by Lada Bidiak

NEWARK, N.J. - It seems that with every passing year, Christmas becomes more and more commercial. No matter where we turn, we are bombarded with advertisements for Christmas sales and discounts, holiday displays (as early as September), and reminders about last-minute presents for our loved ones. We scramble to decorate our homes with wreaths and lights. We rush to send out Christmas cards. And as we approach December 25, everyone seems to become even more frenetic.

Several weeks ago, in his weekly bulletin letter, the Rev. Leonid Malkov of St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, N.J., called upon his parishioners to take a few hours out of their busy schedules and to come to the annual Christmas concert in the church. He encouraged everyone to set aside the commercial aspects of the holiday, and to truly focus on the occasion of Christ's birth.

On Sunday, December 17, with an array of singers and musicians performing a broad spectrum of religious music, holiday songs and Christmas carols, St. John's Church was able to provide its parishioners and friends with a much-needed haven from society's holiday commercialism.

The concert consisted of 10 musical performances, alternating with poetry and passages from the Scriptures read by the Rev. Malkov. Each musician and singer brought his or her unique quality to the concert, providing a church full of solace-seekers just what they had come for.

Roman Cymbala's performance of Schubert's "Ave Maria," followed by "Dnes' Poyusche" and "V Yaslakh Lezhyt'" performed by the vocal trio of Mr. Cymbala, Lev Wolansky and Michael Stashchyshyn, were only the beginning of over an hour's worth of soul-lifting music that swelled to the dome of the church.

They were followed by the instrumental quintet of George Shuhan and Yuriy Zhukevych (violins), Vira Nesterivska (viola), Suzanna Hywel (flute) and Olha Stashchyshyn (bandura), whose rendition of two Ukrainian carols set a tone of tranquility within the church.

The church ensemble consisting of Maria Wolansky, Ms. Stashchyshyn, Mr. Shuhan, Mr. Wolansky, Mr. Stashchyshyn and Basil Tershakovec performed three beautiful pieces, but it was their version of the French carol "Patapan" that seemed to make the greatest impression.

They were followed by several younger musicians - Wolodymyr Stashchyshyn, whose musical talents quickly became apparent as he sat at the piano to play both Barvinsky and Burgmuller, and Alexander Sydoriak, whose saxophone sent an almost ethereal sound throughout the church as he played two seasonal favorites - "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Let it Snow."

The six-member sopilka ensemble, consisting of Wolodymyr Stashchyshyn, Mr. Sydoriak, Natalka Kudryk, Alexis Roziy, Sophia Smaluch and Justin Pyz, played a beautiful medley of carols and schedrivky, and introduced many to their not-so-common instruments.

Violinist Innesa Tymochko-Dekajlo's skilled performance of "Silent Night" and "Nova Radist Stala" concluded with an almost whimsical rendition of "Zemlyu Yudeisku," while soprano Oleksandra Hrabova's performance of Mozart's "Alleluja" and Barvinsky's "Scho to za Predyvo" moved many to tears.

They were followed by the church choir's stirring performance of two lesser-known carols - "Shedshe Triye Tsari" and the Lemko "Narodyvsia Boh," accompanied on guitar by Mr. Wolansky and Bohdanna Wolanska, and on the piano by Maria Cymbala (who provided musical accompaniment for many of the singers and musicians throughout the concert).

In conclusion, everyone present was asked to join the church choir in singing "Boh Predvichnyi."

As each day brings us closer and closer to Christmas, let us continue to set aside the commercial aspects of the holiday, and truly focus on the occasion of Christ's birth. And next year, if you find yourself in the vicinity of St. John's Church on the Sunday before Christmas, try to take a few hours out of your busy schedules, and come to the annual Christmas concert. You just might find the serenity that you didn't even know was missing.

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