PITTSBURGH – To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ukrainian Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh, an audience of 170 gathered on Sunday, June 7, at the Frick Fine Arts Building Auditorium for a concert of Ukrainian music, song and dance.
The Ukrainian Nationality Room is one of 29 nationality classrooms at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, reflecting the city’s rich ethnic heritage. After years of grassroots fund-raising, the Ukrainian Nationality Room was completed and dedicated on June 17, 1990.
Dr. Roman G. Kyshakevych, chairman of the Ukrainian Nationality Room Committee at the University of Pittsburgh, welcomed the audience and invited guest E. Maxine Bruhns, director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kyshakevych narrated a slideshow of historical photographs created by architect Rostyslav V. Boykowycz that documented the room’s design and building, and highlighted many of the architectural and artistic features of the room, including its intricate woodcarvings and metalwork and colorful ceramics.
Roksana Korchynsky
Dr. Andrei Pidkivka plays the tylynka, a shepherd’s flute.
The concert featured critically acclaimed flutist Andrei Pidkivka, accompanied by Pittsburgh pianist Daniel May. Dr. Pidkivka’s performance featured traditional Ukrainian music for a variety of folk flutes, including “Hutsul Fantasy” for the ancient tylynka (a long, slender shepherd’s flute with no finger holes), “Mother’s Lament,” “Polka on Dvodentsivka” and “Bukovynian Spring Duet.” His performance also featured music by Ukrainian composers for modern flute, including Sonata in C Major by Maxim Berezovsky, “Song Without Words” by Kyrylo Stetsenko, and “Melody” by Borys Lyatoshynsky.
Also performing were the Ukrainian Cultural Trust Choir, under the direction of Dorothy Waslo; the Slava Dance Company, under the direction of Natalie Kapeluck; and the Flute Academy of Pittsburgh, under the direction of Wendy Kumer. The concert also included dancers, attired in traditional regional folk costumes, from the Kyiv Dance Ensemble and School directed by Ms. Kapeluck and the Poltava Ukrainian Dance Company directed by Chrystyna Hlutkowsky.
Following the performance, audience members had an opportunity to meet the artists and socialize in the art-filled Frick Fine Arts Building Foyer. The anniversary concert was sponsored by the Ukrainian Nationality Room Committee at the University of Pittsburgh.
A view of the Ukrainian Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh.