JEWETT, N.Y. – Those pessimists who say classical music is dying should visit the Grazhda Concert Hall in Jewett, N.Y., this summer. There, six concerts featuring world-class performers will dispel any such notion.
The Music and Art Center of Greene County, the first and oldest classical music concert series in the region, is entering its 33rd consecutive year. In March, the Greene County Council on the Arts bestowed the Distinguished Service Award on the organization and its president, Natalia Sonevytsky, for their “commitment and contributions to the cultural life of Greene County.”
Soprano Zoya Rozhok and pianist Oleh Rudnytsky are among the artists who will perform at the Grazhda during the summer season.
Known as “Music at Grazhda,” the series begins on July 11 with a concert dedicated to the memory of pianist Tatiana Tchekina, who died in an automobile accident in December 2013. Oleh Krysa, the renowned violinist and husband of Ms. Tchekina, will be the featured artist. Also participating in the program will be the artistic director of the Music and Art Center, Volodymyr Vynnytsky, and cellist Natalia Khoma.
A trio with violinist Anna Rabinova, with Ms. Khoma on cello and Mr. Vynnytsky at the piano will play music by Mozart and Brahms on July 18.
The Grazhda will welcome the young opera soprano from Ukraine Zoya Rozhok in her debut concert in the U.S. on July 25. Ms. Rozhko is a laureate of several international competitions and a soloist of the Opera Studio of the National Academy of Music in Kyiv; she will sing arias by Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti and art songs by Shamo, Bilash, Kos-Anatolsky and others. Mr. Vynnytsky will be at the piano.
Pianist Oleh Rudnytsky
A second U.S. debut at the Grazhda will take place on August 1. A soloist with the Lviv Philharmonic and the winner of Prokofiev International Competition (1994), pianist Oleh Rudnytsky will perform works by Albeñiz, Chopin, Lysenko and Liszt.
The children’s concert – an audience favorite – will be held on August 8. Traditional Ukrainian folk songs and recitations will fill the Grazhda hall.
The “Music at Grazhda” fund-raising concert will take place on August 22, featuring four chamber musicians: violinist Marta Krechkovsky, violist Randolph Kelly, cellist Ms. Khoma and pianist Mr. Vynnytsky.
The season will end on August 29 with a performance by rock singer, musician and poet Taras Chubai, one of the most notable performers of popular music in Ukraine today.
The Music and Art Center also organizes five courses in Ukrainian folk arts. This year, for the first time, Natalia Nazarenko will conduct five sessions of traditional Petrykivka painting on July 27-31. A pysanky course will take place on July 27-30. Lubov Wolynets, curator of Ukrainian ethnography at The Ukrainian Museum, will teach five sessions of Ukrainian embroidery on August 3-7; and Lesia Lasiy will conduct a course in traditional necklace bead-stringing (gerdany) on August 3-7.
The popular and well-known two-week course in folk singing for children age 4-10 will be held at the Grazhda on July 27-August 7. The instructors are Anna Bachynsky and Melasia Serbay.
The Music and Art Center invites all music, folk arts and nature lovers to the beautiful Catskill region of Hunter, N.Y., for magnificent music, radiant nature and evocative Ukrainian arts. The Music and Art Center is a non-profit organization, funded in part by the Cultural Fund of Greene County Council on the Arts, the Self Reliance Federal Credit Union of New York, private contributions and memberships. For more information go to www.Grazhdamusicandart.org.