Dumka celebrates 50th anniversary with gala concert (04/30/00)

Dumka celebrates 50th anniversary with gala concert

by Helen Smindak

NEW YORK - The sudden snow squall that hit the New York area on April 9 may have shut out the New York Mets' season opener at Shea Stadium, but it did not deter the Dumka Chorus of New York from celebrating its 50th anniversary with a full day of exhilarating festivities. Turning out in full force and full voice on the stage of The Cooper Union's Great Hall before a near-capacity audience, the 63-member mixed choir outdid itself in a performance of works by noted Ukrainian composers.

The chorus sang with strength, freshness and eager precision for their excellent conductor, Maestro Vasyl Hrechynsky, presenting a varied program that included Mykola Lysenko's reverential "Cherubic Hymn," Concert No. 3 from Dmytro Bortniansky's exultant "The King Shall Rejoice in Thy Might, O Lord," and excerpts from such popular Ukrainian operatic works as Petro Nischynsky's "Nazar Stodolia" and Mykola Lysenko's "The Drowned Maiden." Ukrainian folk songs with romantic and humorous content, arranged by Filaret Kolessa, Mykola Leontovych, Stanyslav Liudkevych and Yevhen Stankovych, provided lively contrast and change of pace.

Tenor Volodymyr Grishko, a soloist at the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York and the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, was lauded with sustained applause and bravos following his grand contributions to the gala concert. Backed by the chorus, he poured Ukrainian vigor and Italianate quaver into the folk songs "I Look at the Sky," arranged by Victor Zaremba, and "Dark Eyebrows," with lyrics by K. Dmytrashko. The Italian tenor voice and diction that gained him entry into the Met's ranks was heard to fine effect in his solo aria from the operetta/zarzuela "La Tabernera del Puerto."

In the program's second half, when the choristers entered in striking Hutsul-style folk costumes (a colorful change from the first half's black tie for men and emerald green gowns with orange gerdan-beaded necklines for the women), Mr. Grishko joined the chorus for two poignant selections: the Kozaks' song in captivity from the drama "Nazar Stodolia" and the heart-rending prayer from Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's opera "Kozak Beyond the Danube."

The excellent piano artistry of Dumka concertmaster and accompanist Genya Paley, a piano teacher at the Mannes College of Music in New York, was heard in two compositions, Kos-Anatolsky's Prelude in B minor and Chopin's Ballad in G minor, Op. 23.

Chorus president Maria Danchuk-Reshitnyk, welcoming the audience in Ukrainian and English at the start of the afternoon, greeted Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's representative, Jason Street, diplomatic liaison officer for the New York City Commission for the U.N. Consular Corps and Protocol, and extended thanks to contributors and supporters for their "outstanding support" of the 50th anniversary concert. She noted that the Dumka Chorus is the only diaspora group to receive the Mykola Lysenko Award, presented to the ensemble in 1995 by Ukraine's Ministry of Culture "for active propagation of Ukrainian music in Europe, the United States and Canada."

In keeping with a day reserved for song and reunion, greetings received from a large number of Ukrainian American local and national organizations and from cultural institutions in Ukraine were not read on stage. Instead they were given prominent space in the gold-covered anniversary program book, including congratulations from Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Arts Bohdan Stupka; the Kyiv Music-Fest and its director, Ivan Karabyts; the Dumka Capella of Ukraine and its director, Yevhen Savchuk; the Ukrainian Bandurist Capella of Detroit; the Ukrainian National Association; the Ukrainian Fraternal Association and more than a dozen religious and secular organizations.

At the concert's end, a moving interlude occurred as former choir members and conductors were invited to join the choristers on stage for a bow, swelling the stage group to almost twice its size. Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky, a former Dumka conductor, and baritone George Bohachevsky, a Dumka member who sang for many years with the New York City Opera until illness forced his recent retirement, stood up to acknowledge audience applause from front-row seats in the hall. Semen Komirnyj, who directed the chorus for 17 years, came up on stage to accept an anniversary plaque; bouquets of flowers were presented to him and Mr. Hrechynsky, Mr. Grishko and Ms. Paley.

During the ceremony chaired by Dumka Past President Ihor Jadlickyj, commemorative plaques were also presented to three major supporters of the Dumka Chorus: the Ukrainian Sports Club, accepted by president Ivan Sierant; the Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union of New York, represented by board chairman Myroslav Shmigel; and the Ukrainian National Association and President Ulana Diachuk (in Mrs. Diachuk's absence, the award was accepted bv UNA Secretary Martha Lysko).

After a resounding "Mnohaya Lita" by the entire assembly that practically raised the Great Hall ceiling, choristers, family members and friends moved in happy procession along Seventh Street to the Ukrainian National Home on Second Avenue, where a buffet feast awaited around large centerpieces of spring flowers. Against a background of Broadway show tunes spun out by pianist Andriy Solodenko, party-goers viewed a display of mannequins clad in costumes used during the 50-year history of the chorus and scrutinized an extensive exhibit of programs, photos and clippings that stirred fond memories and reminicences for many viewers.

Maestro Hrechynsky, who said that Dumka plans to take its anniversary concert on a tour of Ukrainian communities in the United States, voiced the hope that Dumka would top off its celebration year with the release of a CD of Ukrainian liturgical music and another of Christmas and New Year carols.

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