DATELINE NEW YORK: Springtime brings pysanky, ballet and opera (05/05/96)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Springtime brings pysanky, ballet and opera

by Helen Smindak

Exquisite and radiant as jewels, always a delight to behold, Ukrainian Easter eggs appeared in New York's annual pageant of spring exhibits, workshops and demonstrations, and gained appropriate attention from the media.

As part of its spring program of egg-decorating workshops and demonstrations, The Ukrainian Museum mounted a resplendent display of pysanky from all regions of Ukraine. This was teamed with an exhibit of Yaroslava Surmach Mills' vivid reverse paintings on glass depicting Easter scenes in old Ukraine. Colorful textile designs by Nina Lapchyk of Kyiv also were on view.

Newsday and The New York Times gave coverage of the museum's Easter exhibit in pre-Easter issues.

A three-hour demonstration at the museum on April 6 featuring three pysanka experts - the mother-daughter team of Laryssa and Sofia Zielyk, and Anna Gbur - attracted scores of visitors, who lingered to watch Slavko Nowytski's prize-winning film "Pysanka." Most viewers took time to inspect the exhibits, and stopped in at the museum's spring bazaar to purchase Ukrainian gift items, breads and pastries.

Museum officials reported one of the busiest spring seasons on record; tours were booked for a large number of school groups, and three decorating classes were scheduled for Parsons School of Design students.

Sofia Zielyk, who teaches classes each year at the museum, was interviewed on March 29 by TV Newschannel 4 anchorwoman Mary Civiello, who said she planned to tell her adopted Ukrainian baby how to decorate eggs when the child is old enough to understand.

Ms. Zielyk, wearing a stunning embroidered blouse with a multi-strand coral necklace, explained the batik (wax-resist) method used by Ukrainians to decorate eggs with meaningful symbols such as deer, birds, the tree of life and the endless line. She told Ms. Civiello (and viewers) that pysanky could be purchased at The Ukrainian Museum's gift shop, the Surma shop on East Seventh Street, and a Second Avenue gift store called Rescued Estates.

During Easter week, Ms. Zielyk appeared on Channel 9's Eyewitness News, where she was shown demonstrating her art to reporter Art McFarlane and a group of 50 kindergartners. She was also a focal point of a show about The Ukrainian Museum filmed by a Russian cable station and gave a demonstration at the popular Queens restaurant, Water's Edge, in Long Island City.

A program that combined a lecture and a visual presentation on the art of pysanky, featuring Ms. Zielyk, was offered for members of the Ukrainian Museum Circle and the Museum of Natural History's Junior Council. Held at the Ukrainian Institute of America on March 29, the Easter season event brought together a group of young Ukrainian professionals and their counterparts from the Natural History Museum.

Some 25 employees of New York City's Department of General Services learned all about Ukrainian Easter eggs from an associate, Emily Robbins, the editor of The Green Book (the official directory of the New York City government). During a lunch-hour seminar on March 27, Ms. Robbins gave a half-hour talk on pysanky, supplemented with maps of Ukraine shown on overhead projectors. After she demonstrated the technique of applying melted beeswax to an egg and dipping it in various dyes, participants were given an opportunity to try the method for themselves.

Ms. Robbins, the great-granddaughter of Metropolitan John Theodorovich (1887-1971), who headed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A., has been an ardent egg decorator since the age of 7, when she first attended classes at The Ukrainian Museum with her mother, the late Nina Prosen Robbins. She has taught Ukrainian egg decorating at her alma mater, Cornell University, and during her student exchange year in Scotland. Last year, she participated in an art show at the Tweed Court House in Manhattan with an entry of close-up photographs of pysanky.

Myron Surmach of the Surma shop informed this writer that his store's supply of Easter eggs was sold out before Easter. He also spoke about an unusual demand for egg-decorating supplies, apparently prompted by a recent Putnam publication, a children's book by Patricia Polacco titled "Chicken Sunday," which describes Ukrainian pysanky.

Lily Bochonko of Woodside, Queens, who has been decorating pysanky and teaching the craft in New York since 1976, took her expertise out of the big city this year to Ridgefield, Conn., where she and her daughter, Paula Lockfort, shared the history, legends and method of pysanka-decorating with members of St. Mary's Sewing Guild.

A true coloratura

The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center serves as home base for two illustrious companies - the New York City Ballet and the New York City Opera, their seasons following each other through the year, thus keeping a constant rotation of Ukrainian artists before the public.

A recent changing of the guard occurred at the end of February, when the City Ballet finished its winter season and ballet soloist Roma Sosenko pirouetted off into the wings. Taking over the theater, the City Opera marched out its forces, which include Ukrainian soprano Oksana Krovytska and baritone George Bohachevsky, a chorus veteran.

Dancer Stephanie Godino, who appears in various City Opera productions, including "Rigoletto," "The Magic Flute" and "The Dreyfus Affair," performed the can-can in Francz Lehar's dazzling operetta, "The Merry Widow." A live performance of this sumptuous show, with its ravishing costumes and luxuriant decore, was carried by New York's PBS station Channel 13.

Choreographer Helena Andreyko is credited with restaging the choreography for this season's production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "The Mikado."

The New York City Opera Orchestra counts among its members violinist Helen Strilec, a longtime member of the orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Krovytska, in her third consecutive season as a leading City Opera soprano, appeared a few weeks ago in several performances of Verdi's "La Traviata." She sang the role of Violetta in the heart-wrenching story of a woman redeemed, which Verdi set amidst the glamour and frivolity of 19th century Parisian society.

Associated Press writer Mary Campbell gave the singer high praise. "Oksana Krovytska, as Violetta, has a gleaming voice in the top register. Her coloratura was true, glittering and warm, and her lyric singing flowed."

Ms. Krovytska, a native of Lviv, has received equally glowing tributes from other critics since her 1993 debut at the City Opera as Liu in Puccini's "Turandot" and Micaela in Bizet's "Carmen."

Her work in "Traviata" last year brought this testimonial from Opera magazine: "Krovytska's first act would have been of star quality in any theater in the world. She is pretty, she moved gracefully and expressively, and while the voice in the Slavonic manner gets a little too much resonance in the sinus chamber, she employs that slightly edgy tone for dramatic purposes."

The soprano has delighted audiences with her expressive, lyric voice in City Opera productions of "Prince Igor," "La Boheme," "La Rondine" and "Don Giovanni," as well as in performances during the company's national tours. She also has won excellent notices for her appearances at the Saratoga and Wolf Trap performing arts festivals and in engagements with symphonies throughout the U.S.

A recipient of Puccini Foundation and Sullivan Foundation grants, Ms. Krovytska was in Florida at the beginning of April to take part in two concerts sponsored by the Ukrainian Music Institute of America. She and pianist Mykola Suk performed works by the distinguished composer and conductor, Mykola Kolessa of Lviv, in Port Charlotte and Hollywood.

Upcoming engagements include Verdi's "Requiem" in Wichita, Kansas, (April 12 and 13), Verdi's "Falstaff" in Charleston, W. Va., (May 4), a recital at the Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art in Chicago (May 12), the Berkshire Music Festival (July 13) and a recital at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Hunter, N.Y., (August 3). Ms. Krovytska will also appear with the NYCO company's "La Boheme" cast at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center during the week of June 7.

Ms. Krovytska's voice can be heard in a recording of the Mahler VIII Symphony, performed at the Colorado Mahlerfest in 1995.

A lyric soprano

The name of lyric soprano Svitlana (Lana) Tonkoschkur was inadvertently omitted in a previous story about New York City Opera artists.

Ms. Tonkoschkur, who received her first professional engagement with NYCO, sang with the City Opera chorus for three years (1963-1966) and toured with the NYCO national company. She is the daughter of Ukrainian writer and composer Simon Woshakiwsky.

In her first season, Ms. Tonkoschkur appeared in Alberto Ginastera's "Don Rodrigo," which starred Placio Domingo in the title role, "Lady Macbeth of Mtensk" and "Love for Three Oranges."

The singer was often selected for special scenes, for example, the Polish scene in "Boris Godunov," or a performance with the children's choir in "Carmen." In 1964-1965, she sang in the City Opera production of "Cavalleria Rusticana."

Born in Ukraine, Ms. Tonkoschkur received her musical education at New York music institutions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at Rockland Community College. She has toured in the U.S. and Canada with the Ukrainian Opera Company and the Dumka Chorus, and has appeared with opera companies and in concert regularly in the New York area, using her maiden name, Vasilaki, in solo recitals.

Ms. Tonkoschkur served for 10 years as choir director at Virgin Mary the Protectress and Holy Ascension churches in Clifton, N.J. She now resides with her husband, Alexander Tonkoschkur, in Tappan, N.Y., where she teaches elementary piano and voice privately.

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