MATI SPECIAL EVENT “RISING STARS OF TOMORROW FROM THE CURTIS OPERA THEATER”
On Sunday, April 14, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented a Special Event – “RISING STARS OF TOMORROW FROM THE CURTIS OPERA THEATER.”
The Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists on the highest professional level. One of the world’s leading conservatories, Curtis provides its 165 students with personalized attention from a celebrated faculty. The school’s distinctive “learn by doing” approach has produced an impressive number of notable artists since its founding in 1924. Curtis’s innovative programs encourage students to perform often and hone 21st-century musical skills. Curtis’s facilities offer superb spaces for music-making, as well as state-of-the-art technologies to enhance learning. Students perform internationally with Curtis On Tour, in addition to more than 150 performances in and around Philadelphia each year. When they graduate, they become musical leaders, making a profound impact on music around the globe.
The Curtis Opera Theatre, under the artistic direction of Mikael Eliasen, works with established professional directors and designers to create fresh interpretations of standard repertoire and contemporary works. All of Curtis’s 25 voice and opera students are cast repeatedly each season, receiving a rare level of performance experience. As a result Curtis graduates have sung with opera companies all over the world, including La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Soprano ANNA DAVIDSON, from Los Angeles, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009 and studies in the opera program with Marlena Kleinman Malas. All students at Curtis receive merit-based full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Davidson is the Lee Shlifer Annual Fellow. For the Curtis Opera Theatre, she performed the roles of Thérèse and Son in Les mamelles de Tirésias, Sofia in Il signor Bruschino, Rooster/Jay in The Cunning Little Vixen, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lisa in La sonnambula, and she was a member of the chorus in Idomeneo, Antony and Cleopatra and The Rake’s Progress. Her other credits include Carmen (Frasquita) and L’incoronazione di Poppea (Fortuna) for the Chautauqua Institution, and The Long Christmas Dinner (Leonora) for the Juilliard School. Ms. Davidson has also appeared as a soloist with Juilliard’s chamber ensemble Musica Sequenza and in Bachiana brasileiras No. 5 at the Chautauqua Institution. Ms. Davidson has attended the International Vocal Arts Institute, Chautauqua Institution, and University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg. In 2009 she received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ms. Malas. In addition to music, Ms. Davidson enjoys drawing and painting.
Mezzo-soprano LAUREN PEARL EVERWEIN, from Calgary, Alberta, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2011 and studies with distinguished faculty member, Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. All students at Curtis receive merit-based full-tuition scholarships and Ms. Eberwein is the Carol S. and Howard L. Lidz Fellow. With the Curtis Opera Theatre, Ms. Eberwein sang the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Zweite Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In 2011 she was a featured artist on Minnesota Public Radio’s Varsity contest. She sang Ralph Vaughan William’s Silent Noon. In 2010, she was awarded first place at the Annual Minnesota Music Teachers Association voice competition hosted by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Ms. Eberwein began piano lessons at age ten and vocal lessons at age fifteen. In the past, she has studied with Robin Helgen and Dale Kruse. In 2009, she attended the Eastman School of Music Summer Institute. Ms. Eberwein has been a member of the Minnesota Opera’s Project Opera Chorus. In 2011, she was awarded an apprenticeship and she sang the role of Mother in Hanz Werner Henze’s Pollicino as part of the Minnesota Opera’s Project Opera. When not performing, Ms. Eberwein enjoys the outdoors and pursues a life of exploration and joy. In the future, she hopes to travel and experience various cultures around the world.
Tenor CHRISTOPHER TIESI, from Sarasota, Fla., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009 and studies in the opera program with Marlena Kleinman Malas. All students at Curtis receive merit-based full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. Tiesi is the Lelia A. Wike Fellow. For the Curtis Opera Theatre, he has performed the roles of Florville and Bruschino junior in Il signor Bruschino, Lacouf and Journalist in Les mamelles de Tirésias, Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra, Elvino in La sonnambula, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, and he was a member of the chorus in The Cunning Little Vixen. Mr. Tiesi was a Philadelphia District winner in the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 2009 he performed in the New York Festival of Song with Steven Blier. He attended the Chautauqua Institution from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Tiesi began singing at eight years old as a boy soprano. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where his credits included Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio) and Aaron Copland’s Tender Land (Martin).
Baritone JAMEZ McCORKLE, from New Orleans, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2012 and studies with Ruth Falcon. All students at Curtis receive merit-based full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. McCorkle is the Florence Kirk Keppel Fellow. Mr. McCorkle began piano lessons at age four and voice lessons at age seventeen. Prior to attending Curtis, he attended Mannes College The New School for Music and Loyola University New Orleans. He has also attended several summer programs, including I Sing Beijing, Houston Grand Opera Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, The Music Academy of the West, and the International Vocal Arts Institute. Mr. McCorkle has won top awards in several competitions, including the 2012 National Opera Association Vocal Competition (second place), the 2011 Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Competition (finalist), the 2011 Mildred Miller International Voice Competition (semi-finalist), the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Gulf Coast Region (second place), and the 2010 S. Livingston Mather Scholarship Competition (first place). Mr. McCorkle has performed in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Betto) at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, Les mamelles de Tirésias (le directeur) at Loyola University, and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Fiorello) at the Music Academy of the West. Mr. McCorkel has studied with Phillis Treigle, Kristen Marchiafava, Philip Frohnmayer, and Ruth Falcon. In his spare time, he enjoys playing piano and real-time strategy online gaming.
Pianist REESE REVAK holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition with a concentration in Piano from Temple University. More recently, he has continued his studies at Temple, with graduate work in Piano Accompanying and Opera Coaching. As an accompanist, Mr. Revak has served as music director for the Amici Opera company in addition to engagements with the International Opera Theater in Umbria, Italy, and the International Institute of Vocal Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Currently, Reese Revak works as an accompanist in the vocal department at the Curtis Institute of Music and is also freelance accompanist and opera coach in the Philadelphia region. He aspires someday to be on the coaching staff of a major opera house.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor.
MATI “LYATOSHYNSKY AND SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMBOLISM IN EASTERN EUROPE”
On Saturday, April 6, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented “LYATOSHYNSKY AND SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMBOLISM IN EASTERN EUROPE.” The concert showcased Lucy Shelton, soprano; Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin; YI Chun Chen, cello and Angelina Gadeliya, piano.
The only artist to receive the International Walter W. Naumburg Award twice, as a soloist and as a chamber musician, soprano LUCY SHELTON has performed repertoire from Bach to Boulez in major recital, chamber, and orchestral venues throughout the world. Highly acclaimed as an interpreter of new music, Ms Shelton continues to bring new audiences into the sound world of new works, often composed for her. A native Californian, her musical training began early with the study of both piano and flute. After graduating from Pomona College, she pursued singing at the New England Conservatory and at the Aspen Music School, where she studied with Jan de Gaetani. Lucy Shelton has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Eastman School. She is currently on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center and coaches privately at her studio in New York City. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, KOCH International, Bridge Records, Unicorn-Kanchana, and Virgin Classics.
Violinist SOLOMIYA IVAKHIV has quickly earned a reputation for performing with “a distinctive charm and subtle profundity” (Daily Freeman) and has embarked on an international career that has included performances in concert halls throughout Europe, North America, and China. Born in Ukraine, she made her debut with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of thirteen and has won top prizes in numerous competitions, including the Sergei Prokofiev and the Yaroslav Kocian International Competitions, and the Fritz Kreisler Charles Miller Award from the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms Ivakhiv has performed at major festivals, including Steamboat Springs, Musique de Chambre à Giverny in France, Prussia Cove in England, Tanglewood, Ottawa ChamberFest, Bach Festival, Holland Music Festival, Verbier in Switzerland, Normandy Chamber Music Festival, “Virtuozy,” KyivFest, and the “Contrast” Festival of Modern Music in Ukraine. Her performances have aired on National Public Radio, Voice of America Radio, Ukrainian National Radio and Television, and China’s Hunan Television. As a chamber musician, Ms Ivakhiv collaborates with many of today’s finest artists, including Joseph Silverstein, Claude Frank, Gary Graffman, and Steven Isserlis. An avid proponent of modern music, she premiered the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych, “Three Songs for Henie” written for her by American composer Eli Marshall, and has recorded original music by Philadelphia-based composer David Ludwig. Solomiya Ivakhiv is a graduate of the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music and holds a Doctorate of Music Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Her principal teachers have been Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, the late Rafael Druian, and Philip Setzer. She is the Artistic Director of the “Music at the Institute” Concert Series (MATI).
Cellist YI-CHUN CHEN, a native of Taichung, Taiwan, won the Taichung City Cello Competition in both the children and junior divisions for four consecutive years. She was also the winner of the Taiwan cello competition in 1994 and 1996 as a representative of Taichung city. In 1998, at the age of fifteen, she entered the Curtis Institute of Music in the U.S., where she studied with David Soyer, the renowned founding cellist of the Guarneri Quartet. Under his tutelage, she developed a great interest in chamber music and took part in the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival from 1999 to 2001 with the support of the Gerald F. Warburg Cello Scholarship. She went on to pursue her master’s degree at Boston University. In 2004 she joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic and that same year was awarded the “Talent in Art” Scholarship from the Chi Mei Foundation and the “New Rising Artist in Music” in Taiwan. Chen also has abundant orchestral experience. She was principal cellist of the Taiwan Youth Orchestra in 1994-1996. In 1997 she won the Vigor International Corporation Scholarship, which allowed her to take part in the Asian Youth Orchestra tour with Yo-Yo Ma in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. In 1999 she toured Europe with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Andre Previn and with violinist Anne Sophie Mutter. Chen was a member of Haddonfield Symphony in 2001 and 2002. She was principal cellist of the Boston University Orchestra in 2003 and was also appointed acting principal of Hingham Symphony that same year. In 2004 she took part in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.
Born in Sukhumi, Georgia, Ukrainian pianist ANGELINA GADELIYA has performed widely as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, as well as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Israel, and Ukraine. She completed three seasons with the prestigious Ensemble ACJW, and as a fellow in the Academy–a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute–was actively involved in educational outreach in New York City, and performed regularly at Carnegie Hall, as well as at the Juilliard School. She and her colleagues from the Academy have formed a new ensemble, The Declassified, an exciting new collective seeking to reinvigorate the world of classical music through revelatory audience engagement, community outreach, and innovative programming. Ms Gadeliya has participated in highly acclaimed residencies with the ensemble at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival, and at Princeton University. She has appeared as soloist with the Sinfonia of Colorado, the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, as well as with the Fort Worth, South Dakota, Oberlin, and Stony Brook symphonies. In 2007, she was invited to perform as part of Carnegie Hall’s Discovery Day for the Emerson String Quartet’s Beethoven Project, as well as the Mahler Symphonies Project in 2009. Twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, she has collaborated with such artists as Lucy Shelton, James Conlon, Solomiya Ivakhiv, Thomas Ades, David Stern, Andrew Manze, John Adams, Steve Reich, members of the New York Philharmonic, and the internationally acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group. Her recent performances include solo and chamber music recitals in such venues as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, the Consulate of France, the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago, the New York Historical Society, and the German Consulate; and at such festivals as the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, the Beethoven Master Course in Positano, Italy, the Reynosa International Piano Festival in Mexico, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and David Dubal’s “Chopin and Schumann at 200” lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since the summer of 2009, Ms Gadeliya has served as a faculty member at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is currently a faculty member at the Colorado Springs Conservatory of Music.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor.
MATI SPECIAL EVENT “MYROSLAV SKORYK: COMPLETE WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO CD RELEASE.”
On Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented a Special Event “Myroslav Skoryk: complete works for violin and piana CD release.” The concert showcased Solomia Soroka, violin and Arthur Greene, piano.
Violinist SOLOMIA SOROKA, born in Lviv, Ukraine, is among the most accomplished Ukrainian musicians of her generation. She won top prizes in three international violin competitions held in the former Soviet Union – the Prokofiev, Lysenko, and Zolota Osin competitions. Ms Soroka earned her master’s degree summa cum laude and completed postgraduate studies at the Kyiv Conservatory, and later served on its faculty in the chamber music department. She also has a D.M.A. degree from the Eastman School of Music. Solomia Soroka made her solo debut at age 10, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, and has since appeared as soloist with that orchestra on numerous occasions. She has performed with the National Symphony of Ukraine and other orchestras in Ukraine, Australia, and the United States. Praised for playing “with great warmth and authority” (BBC Music Magazine), she has performed as soloist and as chamber musician at concerts and festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, USA, Canada, China, and Taiwan. She has premiered a number of important contemporary Ukrainian compositions for violin, including works by Borys Lyatoshynsky, Myroslav Skoryk, and Yevhen Stankovych. Since her American debut in 1997, she has performed throughout the U.S. In a review of her recital in Washington, D.C. as part of the Smithsonian Institute performing arts series, The Washington Post described her as “a superbly equipped violinist… Her tone is warm and mellow on the low strings, brilliant on the high strings, perfectly controlled and expressively used.” Solomia Soroka has toured and recorded extensively with her husband, the American pianist Arthur Greene. Their Naxos recording of Four Violin Sonatas by William Bolcom was selected as a Recording of the Month with the highest ranking for both artistry and sound quality by Classics Today, and was hailed as “Another virtuoso piece…confidently delivered by this brilliant duo” (Gramophone). And their recording of the violin sonatas of Nikolai Roslavets, also for Naxos, has received international attention: “Soroka seemed utterly confident, catching a haunting, languid quality within Roslavets’s elusive harmonic idiom……” (The Strad). In the past two years Ms Soroka has been recording for Toccata Records, based in London. Her two premier recordings, the violin/piano music by forgotten American violinist Arthur Hartmann and the music by Holocaust composer Leone Sinigaglia, were released in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Solomia Soroka is currently a professor of violin at Goshen College, Indiana. She studied with Hersh Heifetz, Bohodar Kotorovych, Liudmyla Zvirko, and Charles Castleman.
Pianist ARTHUR GREENE’s dynamic and personal performances have won him acclaim in concert halls and competitions throughout the world. “A profound musician” (The Washington Post); “A masterful pianist (The New York Times); “Intoxicating appeal” (Mainichi Daily News, Japan); “A romantic splendor of sound-colors” (Ruhr Nachrichten); “Stellar Scriabinist” (American Record Guide) – these are but a few of the press accolades garnered by Arthur Greene. He is the winner of gold medals in the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions. Arthur Greene has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, the National Symphony of Ukraine, and many others. He has played recitals in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Moscow Rachmaninov Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Lisbon Sao Paulo Opera House, Hong Kong City Hall, and concert houses in Shanghai and Beijing. He has toured Japan 12 times. Mr. Greene was an Artistic Ambassador to Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia for the United States Information Agency. Arthur Greene has performed the complete solo piano works of Johannes Brahms in a series of six programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. He has performed the 10 Sonata Cycle of Alexander Scriabin in Sofia, Kyiv, Salt Lake City, and other venues. His recording of these 10 Sonatas will be released in 2013. He has recorded the Complete Etudes of Scriabin for Supraphon. He has recorded the Violin-Piano Sonatas of William Bolcom and Nikolai Roslavets on two discs for Naxos, and the Violin-Piano music of Myroslav Skoryk, with his wife, the violinist Solomia Soroka. Mr. Greene received degrees from Yale University and Juilliard, and studied with Martin Canin. He is the Professor of Piano at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor.
Art @ the Institute, Exhibit Art-Nature-Art by Ron Kostuniuk
The Ukrainian Institute of America was pleased to present the constructivist art exhibition “Ron Kostyniuk: Art-Nature-Art”, which originated at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago under the title Ron Kostyniuk: Construction-neo-Construction and subsequently traveled to the Ukrainian Museum in New York under the title Ron Kostyniuk: Art as Nature Analogue. The exhibition opened on March 22, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America and is on display till April 7, 2013.
Ron Kostyniuk is a professor of Fine Art at the University of Calgary, where he has taught for over forty years. With nature as his source of inspiration, Canadian artist Ron Kostyniuk has been creating unique constructed relief sculptures since the 1960s. His work has been widely exhibited and is included in many private and museum collections in Canada. This exhibition features 28 sculptures created between 1967 and 2009 derived both from Kostyniuk’s fascination with biology and study of natural forms and from his interest in the work of modernist and constructivist artists such as Pablo Picasso, Alexander Archipenko, Charles Biederman, Naum Gabo, and Vladimir Tatlin.
My artwork subscribes to the utilization of geometrical form and to the articulation of space trough planar analysis…….I am very cognizant of the actual structuring processes – processes of morphogenesis that operate in nature as formative elements of space in specific cellular combinations. These unique natural systems, however, are not translated in my work into any form of replication, rather they are utilized as a source for metaphoric transposition into an art of geometric form and color interaction as a parallel to nature’s creative rhythms in their manifest splendor. In its most profound sense, the creation of art is a celebration of life. It is a celebration of life in that art is a creation about a creation – analogue to those processes that are found to be operative in nature – as a reflection of and as a reaffirmation of the spirit of man in communion with nature. Providing for a sense of identification with the universe, art embellishes, enriches and nourishes the human spirit. In all aspects art gives life to the imagination, a tactility to the mind’s eye and concrete form to abstract thought. Through the creative process, art externalizes the human spirit, transcends the mundane and lends playful exuberance to man’s perception of color/form/space/light/time in metaphoric transposition. Having originated with the first crystallizations of human experience of primeval man, art has operated as a culmination of the genetic pool of creative consciousness in communion with nature. As such, it is the conduit by which the artist relates to his past, attempts to understand his present and aspires to the future. In its most essential form, art strives to expose the mystery of being and functions as a bridge between man’s intellect and his soul. And like the old wizard moon orchestrating a soft ballet of moonbeams on a silver lake, the artist provides the guiding touch to much of this venture. As the pinnacle of this creative activity, the artist provides the heartbeat, the creative impulse that is the talent that inspires others in this celebration by providing the theatre stage on which one can dance. As the artist creates, so does the viewer in a symbolic relationship of the highest order. Engendered in all of mankind is a creative spirit – everyone dances when one dances, everyone sings when one sings and everyone sculpts when one sculpts. This is a creative journey that by necessity the artist cannot live without. It is a journey that everyone expects the artist to exercise with his most committed being and with the greatest integrity that the artist can muster. The artist’s vision is unique and as he dances omn this earth, his reflection shall register in the infinite meadow of the heavens, like blossoming stars, Longfellow’s “forget-me-nots of the angels.” This creative drive is a great tribute to the human spirit resulting in an activity whose resultant entity sings sweet like visual music for the mind of man and for the soul of mankind. Hopefully this is the “song” of my art.
Ron Kostyniuk
“Art @ the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075
“COLLECTIVE MEMORY” A Literary Evening with Fiction Collective Authors.
Posted by olenauia in Literary Evening on March 15, 2013
The Ukrainian Institute of America took part in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of Fiction Collective, the premier author-run publishing house of innovative fiction in America, by hosting the literary evening “Collective Memory.” The event took place on Friday, March 15, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America. Participated Jonathan Baumbach, one of the publishing house’s two founders (along with Peter Spielberg), and four of its authors, Alain Arias-Misson, Steve Katz, Rob Stephenson and Yuriy Tarnawsky, some of whom are among the first to have been published by the Fiction Collective.
The importance of Fiction Collective and its direct successor, Fiction Collective Two, or FC2, in American literary life cannot be overestimated. It ushered in a new wave of bold and talented writers who dared to withstand the temptation to subjugate their creativity to the demands of big-house publishing executives’ tastes and to consider themselves free artists, as deserving of reaching the reading audience as their more famous, commercially oriented colleagues.
Mr. Arias-Misson has published five novels and four art books, and his stories have appeared in reviews such as Partisan Review, Paris Review, Brooklyn Rail, Fiction International, Evergreen, Black Scat in the U.S. and Luna Park in Paris as well as in numerous anthologies. His “literal objects” have been shown in museums and galleries around the world and his “public poems” enacted in the streets of a score of cities.
Mr. Baumbach has published 15 books of fiction, including most recently Dreams of Molly and YOU. Flight of Brothers will be out in June. He has published over 85 stories in such places as Esquire, American Review, O.Henry Prize Stories, All Our Secrets are the Same and Best American Short Stories.
Mr. Katz won the America Award in Fiction in 1991 with “Swanny’s Ways.” He has authored many books of fiction and poetry, as well as screenplays and small films. Recently he published “Antonello’s Lion”; his new book “The Compleat Memoirrhoids” will be released this fall.
Mr. Stephenson has been creating texts, music, video, films, paintings, drawings, and installations for over 30 years. He is the author of novel “Passes Through” (FC2). He received an outstanding achievement award from The Center For Experimental and Interdisciplinary Art. His drawings have been exhibited and his film, music and video projects have been presented at venues throughout the United States.
Mr. Tarnawsky has authored more than two dozen books of poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and translations, in Ukrainian and English. His fiction books include “Meningitis,” “Three Blondes and Death” and “Like Blood in Water” (all FC/FC2), and the collection “Short Tails” (JEF Books). His most recent publication is a collection of essays in Ukrainian “Flowers for the Patient” (Piramida Publishing). For his contributions to Ukrainian literature, in 2008 he was awarded the Prince Yaroslav the Wise Order of Merit by the Ukrainian government.
After the program, the authors’ books were available for purchase and the audience had the opportunity to meet the authors during the reception.
Pysanka the Ukrainian Easter Egg. Exhibit and Lecture-Presentation by Sofika Zielyk
On Sunday, March 10, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, artist Sofika Zielyk demonstrated the traditional batik process of the Ukrainian Easter Egg and discussed the history, legends, symbols and myths of this ancient and unique art form. The exhibition was on display at the Ukrainian Institute of America from March 8 – March 10, 2013.
Sofika, a native New Yorker, started making pysanky and ceramics when she was six, having learned the basics of these traditional Ukrainian art forms from her mother. What began as a hobby has through the years developed into a professional pursuit. She has lectured and exhibited her work most notably at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the American Craft Museum in New York and the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C. Interviews with Sofika have been published in New York Newsday, The World and I and The New York Daily News. In 1993 a bilingual book on “The Art of the Pysanka” by Sofika was published in Ukraine.
The art of the decorated egg, or the “pysanka” (from the Ukrainian verb “pysaty” or “to write”) dates back to pagan times. Folk tales reveal that people who lived in the region now known as Ukraine worshipped the sun. It warmed the earth and therefore was a source of all life. Eggs decorated with symbols of nature were chosen for sun worship ceremonies and became integral to spring rituals as benevolent talismans.
With the acceptance of Christianity in 988 AD, the decorated pysanka (plural – pysanky) continued to play an important role in Ukrainian rituals. Many symbols of the old sun worship survived and were adapted to represent Easter and Christ’s Resurrection.
A pagan legend maintained that the sun god was the most important of all the deities; birds were the god’s chosen creatures for they were the only ones who could get close to him. Humans could not catch the birds, however, they could obtain the eggs laid by the birds. Thus, eggs were magical objects, a source of life.
The Hutsuls — mountain people of Western Ukraine – believed that the fate of the world depended upon the pysanka. As long as the egg-decorating custom continued, the world would exist. If this custom was abandoned, evil – in the form of a horrible monster, forever chained to a mountain cliff – would overrun the world. Each year this monster-serpent would send out his henchmen to see how many pysanky were created. If the number was low, the serpent’s chains were loosened and he was free to wander the earth causing havoc and destruction. If, on the other hand, the number of pysanky increased, the chains were tightened and good would triumph over evil for yet another year.
Throughout the centuries, symbols on the pysanky, created using a batik (wax-dye) method, have endured and adapted to reflect changes. The triangle, which in pagan times meant air, fire and water or birth, life and death, in Christian times took on the meaning of the Holy Trinity. Grapes, a symbol of good harvest became a symbol for the church. Wheat or pine branches continue to signify health. Flowers and birds stand for happiness and spring. Hens and chickens symbolize fertility. Roosters are identified with masculinity and strength, as are oak leaves. Infinite lines signify fertility. Deer are strength and prosperity. Fish, also symbols of prosperity, represent Christianity as well.
According to custom older people should receive pysanky with darker colors and/or rich designs for their life has already been filled with experiences. It is appropriate to give young people pysanky with white as a predominant color because their life is a blank page ready to be filled.
Girls should never give their boyfriends pysanky that have no design on the top or bottom of the egg – the baldness on either end signifies that the boyfriend will soon lose his hair.
by Sofika Zielyk
Sofika.com
MATI “BEETHOVEN, BARVINSKY, BRAHMS AND MORE”
On Saturday, March 2, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented “Beethoven, Barvinsky, Brahms and more.” The concert showcased Steven Tenenbom, viola, Peter Wiley, cello and Lydia Artymiw, piano.
STEVEN TENENBOM’s impeccable style and sumptuous tone have combined to make him one of the most respected violists performing today. He has appeared as guest artist with the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson and Beaux Arts Trios. As soloist, he has appeared with the Utah Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Brandenburg Ensemble. Mr. Tenenbom is the violist of the Orion String Quartet, the Quartet-in-Residence of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mannes College of Music, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He is also a co-founder of the exciting piano quartet, OPUS ONE. Mr. Tenenbom is a member of the viola faculty of The Juilliard School and the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He is also is the Coordinator of String Chamber Music of the Curtis Institute of Music. His recent recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets with the Orion Quartet are available on Koch International. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. Tenenbom’s teachers have included Max Mandel, Heidi Castleman, Milton Thomas at USC, and Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle at the Curtis Institute of Music. Married to violinist Ida Kavafian, the Tenenboms live in Connecticut where they breed, raise and show champion Vizsla purebred dogs.
Cellist PETER WILEY enjoys a prolific career as a performer and teacher. He is a member of the piano quartet, OPUS ONE, a group he co-founded in 1998 with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, violinist Ida Kavafian, and violist Steven Tenenbom. Mr. Wiley attended the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of David Soyer. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1974. The following year he was appointed principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for eight years. From 1987 through 1998, Mr. Wiley was cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio. In 2001 he succeeded his mentor, David Soyer, as cellist of the Guarneri Quartet. The quartet retired from the concert stage in 2009. He has been awarded an Avery Fischer Career Grant and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 with the Beaux Arts Trio and in 2009 with the Guarneri Quartet. Mr. Wiley participates at leading festivals, including Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, OK Mozart, Santa Fe, Bravo! and Bridgehampton. He continues his long association with the Marlboro Music Festival, dating back to 1971. Mr. Wiley teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music and Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Pianist LYDIA ARTYMIW has emerged as one of the most compelling talents among pianists of her generation. The recipient of both an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize, she has performed with over one hundred orchestras worldwide, with many of the leading conductors of our time. American orchestral appearances include the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, as well as such orchestras as Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Solo recital tours have taken her to all major American cities and to important European music centers, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Zurich, Helsinki, and throughout the Far East (Taiwan, China, Korea, Singapore, Philippines). Critics have acclaimed her seven solo recordings for the Chandos label, and she has also recorded for Bridge, Centaur, Pantheon, and Artegra. Festival appearances include Aspen, Bantry (Ireland), Bay Chamber, Bravo! Vail Valley, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, Grand Canyon, Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, Montreal, Mostly Mozart, Seattle, and Tucson. An acclaimed chamber musician, Ms Artymiw has collaborated with such celebrated artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Kim Kashkashian, John Aler, Benita Valente (with whom she has recorded for Centaur and Pantheon), the Guarneri, Tokyo, American, Borromeo, Miami, Orion, and Shanghai Quartets, and she has toured nationally with Music from Marlboro groups. Along with Arnold Steinhardt (first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet) and Jules Eskin (principal cellist of the Boston Symphony), she was a member of the Steinhardt-Artymiw-Eskin Trio for over ten years. A recipient of top prizes in the 1976 Leventritt and the 1978 Leeds International Competitions, she graduated from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and studied with Gary Graffman for twelve years. Lydia Artymiw is the McKnight Distinguished Professor of Piano at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and received the “Dean’s Medal” for Outstanding Professor in 2000.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor.
MATI “Of Song, Dance and Remembrance” – Celebrating Virko Baley’s 75th Birthday
On Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented “Of Song, Dance and Remembrance” – Celebrating Virko Baley’s 75th Birthday.
VIRKO BALEY is a Jacyk Fellow at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and Distinguished Professor of Music, Composer-in-Residence, and co-director of NEON, an annual composers’ conference, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received a 2007 Grammy® Award as recording co-producer for TNC Recordings and the prestigious Academy Award in Music 2008 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The citation read:
“A highly cultured, polyglot intellectual, brilliant pianist and a dynamic and accomplished conductor, the Ukrainian-born Virko Baley composes music which is dramatically expansive of gesture, elegant and refined of detail and profoundly lyrical. It is music which ‘sings’ with passionate urgency whether it embraces (as in his more recent work) folkloric elements from his origins or finds expression in a more universal style of modernism typical of his earlier music. It is always a singular voice and a deeply felt and acutely heard music.”
Virko Baley was born in Ukraine in 1938, but has spent his creative life in the United States and considers himself a citizen of the world. Multi-disciplinary, he infuses his music with themes of contemporary and traditional motifs. Shirley Fleming, reviewing a concert of his music given by CONTINUUM in the New York Post called his music “vibrant, dramatic, communicative, much of it framed by extra-musical allusions that place it in a solid context.” The New York premiere of Concerto No. 1, quasi una fantasia for violin by the New Juilliard Ensemble, Joel Sachs conductor, Tom Teh Chiu, soloist, prompted the Village Voice critic Kyle Gann to describe it as full of “sonic images memorable enough to take home.” His Symphony No. 1: “Sacred Monuments” was described by David Hurwitz in Classics Today as, “Powerfully imagined, clearly articulated, and quite moving… It’s a very serious ambitious statement by a gifted artist, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it turns out to have more staying power than many other contemporary works by today’s trendier composers.” In 2010, reviewing a recent CD released of Virko Baley’s music, Robert Schulslaper wrote that “Baley’s music [is] deeply lyrical and emotively powerful in equal measure. Recommended,” while American Record Guide pronounced, “These are exceptional compositions and fantastic performances. The language in these pieces is a part of a larger context of exploration for new sounds in the world of instrumental music.” In reviewing Baley’s monumental chamber cycle Treny in Gramophone, Ken Smith wrote “The strength of the piece lies in its highly – and unapologetically – emotional content, dispensed artfully with the utmost thematic discretion…Hearing nearly 73 minutes of brooding Slavic ruminations on death may not inspire much toe-tapping, but Baley does arrive at an effective catharsis. The vocal line, whose wordless hum soon blooms into a text reconciling itself to human morality, descends on the earthiness of the cello like a message from above. In delivering it, soprano Olga Pasichnyk floats her voice like an angel.”
A recipient of the 1996 Shevchenko Prize for Music from the Ukrainian government, he has also distinguished himself as conductor, producer, and writer, as the author of a number of articles on various musical topics and a contributing editor to both New Grove Opera and New Grove 2000 Dictionary of Music on the subject of Ukrainian music. Together with Ivan Karabyts, he founded the first international music festival in Ukraine, the Kyiv Music Fest. He co-produced and wrote the music for Yuri Illienko’s film Swan Lake: The Zone, which won two top prizes at Cannes in 1990, and the music for Illienko’s last film, A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa. He has led the Kiev Camerata in recordings of over 15 CDs of orchestral music by composers ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Valentin Silvestrov, and Bernard Rands to Yevhen Stankovych, and he has worked with the Shevchenko Opera Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, as well as the Moscow Philharmonic, Leningrad State Symphony Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Washington Square Orchestra (New York), and many others. For 15 years he was Music Director and Conductor of the Nevada Symphony Orchestra, precursor of the current Las Vegas Philharmonic; in addition he was the founder and for 20 years director of Las Vegas Chamber Players and for 16 years, the Las Vegas Annual Contemporary Music Festival. On February 5, 2013 he will present in concert his most recent work, the opera Holodomor (Red Earth. Hunger) at the Gerald Lynch Theater, College of Criminal Justice, Manhattan, New York.
The concert showcased Fiona Murphy, soprano; Laura Bohn, soprano; John Duykers, tenor; Marta Krechkovsky, violin; Virko Baley, piano; Steven Beck, piano; Jennifer Grim, flute and James Roe, oboe.
Oboist JAMES ROE made his Lincoln Center concerto debut during the 2004 Mostly Mozart Festival and in 2009 performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Oboes in D Minor in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with The Little Orchestra Society. He is Acting Principal Oboe of The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, a member of The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra, The Knights, and has appeared as guest principal oboe with The Metropolitan Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and The Houston Grand Opera. In 2006, he was appointed Artistic Director of The Helicon Foundation, where he produces an annual subscription series of chamber music performed on period instruments. Mr. Roe is a member of the Zéphyros Winds, with whom he has concertized widely across the United States.
Hailed as “dramatically deft and vocally splendid” by the Irish Times, soprano FIONA MURPHY from Dublin, Ireland, had a most successful career as a mezzo soprano in leading roles with the Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. She has now made the transition to the soprano repertoire. Her portrayal of the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw for Opera Northern Ireland was critically acclaimed in the British press. She was an Opera News magazine “Sound Bites” page featured artist recently and heralded as a soprano to watch. Concert highlights include performances at the Hollywood Bowl, the Barbican, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center, Festival Hall Liverpool, and the National Concert Hall Dublin.
American pianist STEVEN BECK continues to garner acclaim for his performances and recordings worldwide. The New Yorker praised him as “one of the city’s finest young pianists,” and Anthony Tommasini described a recent New York concert by him as “exemplary” and “deeply satisfying” in The New York Times. Highlights of the 2011-12 season include solo performances of works by Wuorinen in the Guggenheim’s “Works and Process” series, a performance of Messiaen’s Concert a Quatre with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and performances at Darmstadt and Vienna with the Talea Ensemble. Mr. Beck’s annual performances at Bargemusic of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Christmas Eve and Brandenburg Concertos on New Year’s Eve have become a New York tradition.
Hailed as “a deft, smooth flute soloist” by the New York Times, JENNIFER GRIM’s remarkable depth and breadth as a performer of solo and chamber repertoire is gaining broad national acclaim. First prize winner in several national chamber music competitions, she has performed with such groups as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. She is the flutist of the award-winning Zéphyros Winds, as well as the solo flutist of the New York Chamber Soloists and the principal flutist of the Vermont Mozart Festival, where she has performed all the Mozart flute concertos and the flute quartets. A passionate advocate of contemporary music in addition to the standard repertoire, Ms. Grim has performed with some of the leading contemporary groups in New York City, including Speculum Musicae, Manhattan Sinfonietta, ensemble 21 and Sequitur.
Ukrainian violinist MARTA KRECHKOVSKY, a prizewinner at the Kocian International Violin Competition in the Czech Republic at the age of 10, has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in her native Ukraine, including the Lviv State Symphony Orchestra, and in Canada, with the Canadian Academy Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Sinfonietta, and the Canada Pops Orchestra. An experienced performer of orchestral and chamber music, she has been a substitute player with the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra from 2005 to 2009. Ms. Krechkovsky has participated in numerous music festivals and has served as a concertmaster at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, and the Russian Easter Festival in Russia.
Soprano LAURA BOHN is rapidly being recognized as a compelling presence in the new generation of operatic performers, garnering praise as “..an amazing blend of vocal splendor and physical virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle). In 2013 the American soprano will appear as Nerone in MonteverdISH, an adaptation of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, which last season toured major theaters throughout northern Europe, including Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg and Berlin’s Konzerthaus, to wide acclaim. The soprano’s 2013-14 season includes the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at West Edge Opera in San Francisco, the female lead in Holodomor, a new opera by Virko Baley about Stalin’s Ukrainian famine, in Las Vegas and New York, and DJ Mozart, an original pastiche of Mozart and breakdance, which will tour major theaters in northern Europe. The 2012 season saw her return to West Edge Opera as Bessie in Mahagonny Songspiel, performances at the Holland Festival, and a national tour as soloist with the Ricciotti Ensemble Orchestra throughout the Netherlands.
Tenor JOHN DUYKERS has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera companies, including The Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Frankfurt Opera, Opera de Marseilles, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has sung in 120 contemporary operas, including 72 world premieres. He created the role of Chairman Mao in John Adams’ Nixon in China. Philip Glass has written three roles for Duykers, including The Visitor (In The Penal Colony) and the role of the Older Galileo in Galileo/Galilei. In 2009 Mr. Duykers co-founded First Look Sonoma with Director Melissa Weaver, dedicated to the creation of new Music Theater Performance Works.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor
MATI presented “OLEH KRYSA – CELEBRATING HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY”
On Saturday, December 1, 2012 at the Ukrainian Institute of America, Music at the Institute (MATI) presented “Oleh Krysa – Celebrating his 70th Birthday”. The concert showcased Oleh Krysa on violin and Tatiana Tchekina on piano. Also MATI Artistic Director, the violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, joined the featured performers during their encores, for which they offered the Shostakovich Waltz and Polka.
The Ukrainian-American violinist OLEH KRYSA, long esteemed in the former USSR as a distinguished soloist, chamber musician, and teacher, made his American debut in 1971 at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times heralded it as “a performance to make a violinist’s reputation had he come without one.” After an 18-year absence from the American concert stage, his appearances in 1990 at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center were again met with exceptional critical acclaim, confirming his reputation as a master of his instrument.
A prominent student of David Oistrakh, Oleh Krysa won major prizes at the Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, and Montreal international competitions and was the outright winner of the Paganini Competition. He has performed solo recitals in the world’s major music centers (including the Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Hall, Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonia, Glinka Hall, Column Hall of the Kiev Philharmonia, Warsaw Philharmonia, Concertgebouw, Brahms Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Semper Oper, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Kennedy Center, Roy Thomson Hall, Place des Arts, Suntory Hall, Minato Mirai Hall, Seoul Art Center, Taiwan’s National Concert Hall) and with the leading orchestras and ensembles of Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, London, Helsinki, Bergen, Stockholm, Malmo, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Bonn, Weimar, Stuttgart, Warsaw, Krakow, Katowice, Prague, Brno, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Plovdiv, Belgrade, Zagreb, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Montreal, Toronto, Cape Town, Yokohama, Canberra and Wellington. He has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kirill Kondrashin, Dimitri Kitajenko, Alexander Dmitriev, Alexander Lazarev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Mark Ermler, Yuri Simonov, Lev Markiz, Saulius Sondeckis, Arvid Jansons, Neeme Jaarvi, Eri Klas, Stepan Turchak, Volodymyr Kozhuhar, Volodymyr Sirenko, Roman Kofman, Taras Krysa, Theodore Kuchar, Virko Baley, Igor Simovich, Yerzy Semkow, Sakari Oramo, Kurt Sanderling, and James de Preist.
Oleh Krysa has also appeared at major music festivals in Europe (“Moscow Stars”, “Prague Spring”, “Warsaw Autumn”, “Sofia Weeks”, Plovdiv, Wiener Fest, Lockenhaus, Schleswig-Holstein, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Edinburgh, Kuhmo, Korsholm), North America (Aspen, InterHarmony, Park City, Lake Winnipisaukee, Peninsula), Australia (Perth, Townsville), and New Zealand (Wellington).
A champion of contemporary music, Oleh Krysa has worked closely with Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzsyzstof Penderecki, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Sydney Hodkinson, Virko Baley, Myroslav Skoryk, Valentin Silvestrov, Yevhen Stankovych and Larry Sitsky. He has premiered a number of their works, many of which were written for and dedicated to him.
In addition to his outstanding solo career, Mr. Krysa was leader of the Kyiv Conservatory Quartet (1970-1973), the Leontovych Quartet (1999-2003), and the celebrated Beethoven String Quartet (1977-1987).
Oleh Krysa began his teaching career as chairman of the Violin Department at the Kyiv Conservatory. In 1973 he took the same position at the Gnesins Musical and Pedagogical Institute in Moscow and, two years later, returned to his alma mater, the Moscow Conservatory, as Professor of Violin, where he remained until 1988. Currently he is Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He served as Visiting Professor at Tokyo University of Arts in 2009. He is also Honored Professor at the Lviv Music Academy (Ukraine) and an Honored Member of the Japanese String Teachers Association.
Mr. Krysa has recorded on the Melodiya, Bis, Triton, Olympia, TNC Recordings, Amadis, Polskie Nagranie, and Russian Disc labels.
Oleh Krysa is married to pianist Tatiana Tchekina, who has been his partner in most of his recitals and recordings over the years. He performs on a J.B. Guadagnini 1758 on generous loan from the Eastman School of Music.
Pianist TATIANA TCHEKINA was born in Moscow to a family of singers. She studied at the Moscow and Kyiv Conservatories with Boris Zemlyansky and Vsevolod Topilin. Since 1967, Ms. Tchekina has been performing with her husband, the violinist Oleh Krysa, in solo and chamber music recitals in major concert halls throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Korea, garnering worldwide critical acclaim as “…obviously, a first-rank artist in her own right…” (The Montreal Star), “an especially forceful, responsive partner” (The Washington Post), and a “distinguished musician herself and a pianist of notable talents” (Canberra Times). She has also appeared at major music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2004, Ms. Tchekina was an official accompanist at the David Oistrakh International Violin Competition (Odessa, Ukraine) and in 2008 at the Qingdao International Violin Competition (China). She has recorded 20 CDs on the Melodiya, Bis, Triton, TNC, and Russian Disc labels with violinist Oleh Krysa. Ms. Tchekina taught Chamber Music at Kyiv Conservatory and Accompanying at Gnesins Musical and Pedagogical Institute in Moscow. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Accompanying at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY.
“Music at the Institute” was sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY
Solomiya Ivakhiv — Artistic Director • Mykola Suk — Artistic Advisor
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Art @ the Institute, Exhibit Forms & Metaphors II by Georgian and Ukrainian artist Temo Svirely
Posted by Ukrainian Institute NY in Art on November 14, 2012
Georgian-Ukrainian artist Temo Svirely returned to the Ukrainian Institute of America with Forms and Metaphors II. Some 30 paintings in both figurative and abstract styles were shown from October 19 -November 11, 2012, at the Ukrainian Institute’s historic headquarters at 2 East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. An opening reception with the artist was held on October 19, 2012.
Svirely is well known for his artistic experiments with energy, space, and expression. He writes: “Inconsistency is the universal quality of the universe. In this prism forms and non-forms, abstract and real, pain and joy, creation and destruction, life and death are not contradictory ideas but equal manifestations of the constantly moving cycle of cause and effect. Consequently I apply this or that artistic form of expression as a means of conveying as well as possible the essence of the world in which I live and breathe.”
The artist has exhibited in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and Russia, as well as his native Georgia and Ukraine. He was born in Zhinvali, Republic of Georgia, in 1964 and graduated from the Zhinvali Art School and the Tblisi Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.
