IN MEMORIAM: Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, tireless promoter of Ukrainian music (02/15/98)

IN MEMORIAM: Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, tireless promoter of Ukrainian music

by Halia Talpash Wawryshyn

TORONTO - Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, artistic director, choirmaster, conductor, musical scholar, pedagogue and tireless promoter of Ukrainian music, died on November 7, 1997, at his home here after a heroic battle with cancer. He was 69 years old.

Maestro Kolesnyk was a man with a worldwide reputation, many friends and colleagues. Single-minded in his pursuit of musical excellence, sometimes controversial, he was, without doubt, a powerful figure on the Ukrainian musical scene both in Ukraine and in North America.

Wolodymyr Kolesnyk was born on September 7, 1928, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. He graduated with distinction from Kyiv's Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in 1952. He had a distinguished career with the Kyiv State Opera and Ballet Theater which began in 1949. While still a student, he was invited to be assistant choirmaster. In 1954 he was appointed chief choirmaster of the theater's chorus, and in 1969 he assumed one of the most prestigious posts in the Ukrainian musical world as the theater's general and artistic director. Nearly 900 people worked under his command, and he performed with many of the world's leading singers and mastered a repertoire of more than 80 operas of both classical and modern composers.

In addition, he edited musical anthologies, produced several musical films, recorded operatic works on the Melodiya label, wrote articles and reviews for periodicals, and taught conducting at the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute and the Kyiv State Conservatory. In recognition of his prolific artistic career, he was given several awards and honorary titles.

Neither the honors nor his esteemed position, however, were enough to compensate for the stifling artistic atmosphere of the Soviet Union during the period of stagnation. With his family, Maestro Kolesnyk left Ukraine in 1973. He first went to Australia, where he conducted at the Sydney Opera House and appeared in radio concerts with the Adelaide and the Perth symphony orchestras.

In 1974 he came to Canada and chose Toronto as his home. He soon gathered around him a core group of singers and music lovers and so began the North American phase of his musical career. Only a year after his arrival he staged Hulak-Artemovsky's opera "Zaporozhian Kozak Beyond the Danube" in Toronto. In 1977 he became the artistic director of the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association, as well as the choirmaster of the Opera Chorus, positions he retained for 20 years, until the year of his death.

Maestro Kolesnyk was responsible for many musical firsts in North America. In 1979 he brought Vachnianyn's four-act opera opera "Kupalo" to the North American stage for the first time. After seeing a performance of the opera, the Toronto Star music critic William Little wrote, "this was some of the best choral singing heard and this by an amateur choir." Mr. Kolesnyk conducted the first performances outside the Soviet Union (in Toronto, New York, Chicago and Cleveland) of Liudkevych's cantata-symphony "The Caucasus." He presented the North American premieres of Sichynsky's opera "Roksolana" (concert version) and Bortniansky's "Alcides." He was the creative initiator of Montreal composer George Fiala's Fourth Symphony, his Concerto for Piano and Chorus and of Kikta's "Divine Liturgy" and "Sacred Dnipro."

The world premiere, in April 1996, of Kikta's contemporary cantata "Sacred Dnipro" was Maestro Kolesnyk's last grand public performance. Staged to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the production at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall featured both the Opera Chorus of Toronto and the Dnipro Choir of Edmonton, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

In his 23-year career in North America, Mr. Kolesnyk made numerous concert appearances with symphony orchestras in prestigious concert halls in Toronto, Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal and Ottawa as well as in Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Chicago Lyric Theatre.

From 1978 Mr. Kolesnyk worked with the Dnipro Choir of Edmonton and made frequent trips to that city for rehearsals. In 1991 with the Dnipro Choir, he staged an original work, "Conquerors of the Prairies," by the Edmonton composer C.Yaremen, written to mark the centenary of Ukrainians in Canada. Every summer for 20 years (1976-1997) Maestro Kolesnyk held workshops for future conductors in Edmonton. Over the years, about 200 participants took part in the workshops.

For 10 years Mr. Kolesnyk was also the conductor of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit and traveled there regularly for rehearsals. Twice he led the ensemble on successful and acclaimed tours of Ukraine. For his contributions to Ukrainian culture, Mr. Kolesnyk was awarded a medal by President Leonid Kuchma.

The Bortniansky Project was another undertaking by the maestro. It involved locating the originals of the 18th century composer's works in the British Museum of London, organizing and assembling a choir of appropriate voices and learning and exploring the poetic and musical texts with singers on contract from many parts of Canada and the U.S. A five-volume record set was made, the first time that all 35 of Bortniansky's religious concertos for choir were performed according to the original text and in the order set by the composer himself.

Maestro Kolesnyk did not complete all of his musical projects. Maestro Kolesnyk spent three years researching and editing the original works of Artem Vedel. He recovered and restored Vedel's manuscripts, which had been buried in the vaults of the Central Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. Until unearthed by Maestro Kolesnyk, Vedel's manuscripts, containing his prodigious musical legacy, had remained hidden and inaccessible for performance. Before his death, Maestro Kolesnyk was trying to find financing for the publication of the 400-page volume "Masterpieces of Ukrainian Classical Music: Artem Vedel 1767-1808" containing Vedel's Liturgy and Twelve Sacred Concerti.

Although the maestro did not live to see the publication of Vedel's works, the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta, the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association of Toronto and music lovers across Canada have organized the Vedel Project to publish Vedel's works. This wonderful music will then be accessible to artists and choirs around the world so that Vedel can become part of the global repertoire. This will be Wolodymyr Kolesnyk's last gift to the world of music he loved so well.

Along with his colossal talent, drive and steely determination to accomplish his aims often in the face of harsh adversity, Mr. Kolesnyk was a man of quiet humility and infinite warmth. He deeply touched and inspired all who worked with him. There was a strong core of enthusiasts in the choruses and opera associations in Canada who were always ready to follow their maestro into whatever project he undertook. They knew that anything he touched would be successful and significant. He was a man who did not rest on his laurels but constantly strove to attain new goals. Even during his last days, when he was very ill, Mr. Kolesnyk had a keyboard, a computer and a pile of notes near his bed and he would record any new idea that would come to him. Although he was in great pain, he refused to accept morphine as he did not want to dull his mind which was still brimming with ideas.

Wolodymyr Kolesnyk is survived by his wife, the talented opera singer Hanna Kolensnyk, and a son, Maxim Kolesnyk, who resides in Caledon with his wife and daughter. Mrs. Kolesnyk, a former soloist with the Kyiv State Opera Company, sang in many operatic and concert performances staged by her husband in Australia, Europe, Canada and the U.S. On her recently recorded CD she dedicates a lovely aria to her husband and loving companion of many years.

Wolodymyr Kolesnyk was loved by all who came to know him and who worked with him. He leaves a deep void and he will be sorely missed. It was, ironically, our good fortune that the Soviet authorities hounded him out of his native land for we in Canada had a wonderful friend, conductor and teacher. Hanna Kolesnyk took the maestro's earthly remains to Kyiv for burial. May he forever rest in peace and may music lovers everywhere always remember his contribution to his beloved art. Vichnaia Pamiat, dorohyi Maestro!

Halia Talpash Wawryshyn is a retired teacher in Toronto who sang in Wolodymyr Kolesnyk's Opera Chorus for many years.

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