DATELINE NEW YORK: Around the world with Oleh Krysa (06/23/02)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Around the world with Oleh Krysa

by Helen Smindak

To celebrate his 60th birthday, acclaimed violin soloist, chamber musician and teacher Oleh Krysa and several of his renowned colleagues began a world tour on May 11 by presenting a scintillating concert for a host of fans, friends and well-wishers at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Now circling the globe, Mr. Krysa and his retinue have already touched down in Ukraine (Kyiv) and in Australia and are continuing the tour with concerts in Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore and Japan.

The concert at the Institute - the concluding session of the 13th season of Music at the Institute - was graced by the talents of composer/pianist Virko Baley, pianists Alexander Slobodyanik and Tatiana Tchekina (Mr. Krysa's wife), violinist Peter Krysa (son of Oleh Krysa and Ms. Tchekina), violists Borys Deviatov and Alexander Rees, and cellists Rachel Lewis Krysa (Peter Krysa's wife) and Volodymyr Panteleyev. Cellist Natalia Khoma, who was also scheduled to perform, was unable to be present because of illness, and her roles were filled by Ms. Krysa.

Robert Sherman, longtime announcer at New York's classical music radio station WQXR-FM, tended graciously to master of ceremonies duties for the evening. He also served as narrator for the program's highly amusing and clever work for speaker and violin, Alan Ridout's "Ferdinand (the Bull)."

Because transportation problems delayed me, I missed two opening numbers - Passacaglia for Violin and Piano by George Handel and Johan Halvorsen, performed by Peter Krysa and Ms. Krysa, and Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 74. No. 10, offered by the Leontovych String Quartet consisting of Oleh and Peter Krysa, Mr. Deviatov and Mr. Panteleyev. I arrived in time to hear Mr. Slobodyanik's spirited account of Chopin's Polonaise in A Major. For Shostakovich's lively Scherzo from Piano Quintet, Mr. Slobodyanik teamed up with the Leontovych Quartet in a performance that drew hearty and sustained applause from the audience.

Bravos and long applause rewarded Mr. Krysa and Ms. Tchekina for their performances of "Lyrical Scenes" by Ivan Karabyts and Henryk Wienawski's "Scherzo-Tarantella," a very fast, melodious work with lyrical, gliding passages that set listeners' hearts and toes afire. There was more melodic, danceable music as the husband-wife duo, joined by daughter-in-law Ms. Krysa, gave a delightful performance of Fritz Kreisler's "Miniature Viennese March for Violin, Cello and Piano."

Mr. Baley's light-hearted, somewhat quixotic "Pajarillo for Piano" received its New York debut when Mr. Baley sat down at the piano to play the piece he composed for his work "Cante Hondo." Then it was time for the story of Ferdinand the Bull; as Mr. Sherman related the comic tale, Oleh Krysa produced exotic sound effects with his violin and bow, drawing peals of laughter (and more applause) from listeners.

The two Krysas, father and son, together with violists Messrs. Deviatov and Rees and cellist Ms. Krysa, displayed impeccable technique and coordination in their performance of Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence" String Quartet (First Movement, Allegro con spirito) - a fitting conclusion to what concert-goers agreed was a magnificent concert.

UIA President Walter Nazarewicz, speaking on behalf of the institute's members and board of directors, presented a plaque to Oleh Krysa for his distinguished service to the institute as founder of the Music at the Institute series and its dedicated director for several years. Mr. Sherman led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday" to Mr. Krysa, who thanked the Ukrainian Institute of America and all his fans and expressed gratitude to the performing artists and "everyone who supported us morally and materially." In true Ukrainian fashion, rounds of "Mnohaya Lita" were sung by the audience for Mr. Krysa, Mr. Slobodyanik (another birthday celebrant) and Mr. Sherman.

Mr. Krysa's American debut in 1971 at Carnegie Hall was heralded by The New York Times as "a performance to make a violinist's reputation had he come without one." His appearances in 1990 at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, following an 18-year absence from the American concert stage, met with exceptional critical acclaim.

A prominent student of David Oistrakh, Mr. Krysa won major prizes at the Wienawski, Tchaikovsky and Montreal international competitions. He has performed as a soloist in major music centers throughout the world and with leading orchestras, conductors and ensembles, and has also appeared at major festivals in many countries. As a chamber musician, he has performed worldwide and as leader of the celebrated Beethoven Quartet (1977-1987). A champion of contemporary music, he has worked closely with Alfred Schnittke, Valentyn Silvestrov and Myroslav Skoryk and has premiered a number of their works.

Currently professor of violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., Mr. Krysa began his teaching career as chairman of the Violin Department at the Kyiv Conservatory. He also held teaching positions at the Gnesins Music and Pedagogical Institute and the Moscow Conservatory before coming to the United States in 1988.

Notes on music

Musically speaking, New York's spring season was richly endowed with vocal and instrumental sounds created by Ukrainian performers and Ukrainian compositions.

Topping off another successful Met season, Paul Plishka sang the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro in an outdoor concert performance of "La Bohème" on June 12, the opening presentation in the Metropolitan Opera's annual Met in the Parks Concert Series. It's estimated that 45,000 to 50,000 people were drawn to the Great Lawn of Central Park for the occasion.

Reviewing "Boheme" in The New York Times, Amy Midgette referred to Mr. Plishka as "the ever-effective veteran." The Ukrainian American basso, who will be leaving the Met at the end of the 2002-2003 season, appeared during the Met's recent season as Prince Gremin in "Eugene Onegin," Wurm in "Luisa Miller," the Sacristan in "Tosca" and Dr. Bartolo in "The Barber of Seville," as well as in "Boheme." He is scheduled to appear in the Met's concert version of "Barber of Seville" at Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows, Queens, on June 29.

Soprano Maria Guleghina "sang with her customary vocal and dramatic intensity, sacrificing beautiful sound for dramatic impact," wrote The Times' Anthony Tommasini in his review of the Met's May 11 presentation of Puccini's "Tosca" (the season's closing performance and what was scheduled to be tenor Luciano Pavarotti's farewell performance - for which he did not appear). Ms. Guleghina received high praise from critics this season for her performance as Abigaille in Verdi's "Nabucco." During the PBS telecast of this thrilling Met production on June 16, the anouncer described Ms. Guleghina as "born in Odesa, Ukraine."

Another Odesa native who sang in New York during the past season was soprano Anna Shafajinskaia, debuting at the New York City Opera in the title roles in "Turandot" and "Tosca." Reviewing Ms. Shafajinskaia's "Tosca" performance in The New York Times on March 26, Allan Kozinn wrote that "her voice is appealingly dark and rounded, and her somewhat old-fashioned approach to vibrato suited both the role and the production." Winner of 14 international competitions in two years, the soprano, who now makes her home in Canada, has upcoming engagements with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, San Diego Opera, Netherlands Opera and Finnish National Opera, and will sing the title role in "Manon Lescaut" in Frankfurt and "Tosca" in New Orleans.

The Gogol Bordello band, a group headed by Kyiv-born Eugene Hutz which has become an underground phenomenon in New York, trotted out its specialty - Gypsy punk cabaret - at the Whitney Museum in April. Made up of immigrants from Ukraine, Russia and Israel, the members converged in New York four years ago with a mission to create a new kind of rock'n'roll that reflected their struggles and peripatetic heritage. According to Ben Sisario, who wrote about the band in the April 15 issue of the Times, their sound is "raucous, sweaty, tuneful and recklessly vibrant, like the punk and Gypsy music that inspired them."

In a recital at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences on Manhattan's Upper West Side, sisters Halyna and Lesia Telnyuk performed songs set to the words of Yevhen Malaniuk, Stanislav Telnyuk, Pavlo Tychyna, Mykola Horbal and other Ukrainian poets. Oleksiy Batkovsky provided violin, keyboard and flute accompaniment for the prize-winning vocal duo from Lviv.

The Experimental Bandura Trio of Julian Kytasty, Michael Andrec and Jurij Fedynskyj has been experimenting with new venues and new combinations of artists and instruments in SoHo, Greenwich Village and Brooklyn, bringing the sound of the bandura and Ukrainian songs to throngs of uninitiated New York residents. The EBT ensemble's work is such an admirable pioneering venture that it deserves more attention in a later column.

In Queens, the touring Red Star Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble gave a concert at Queensborough Community College that included the joyful song "Stable the Horses" (Zakuvayte Khloptsi Koni) and the flamboyant Ukrainian Hopak dance.

Music emanating from the Ukrainian Street Festival in lower Manhattan during the May 17-19 weekend resounded for blocks around East Seventh Street and Third Avenue. Though plagued by rain and cool weather, the annual festival hosted by St. George's Church still had much to offer. Tasty Ukrainian foods and attractive handicrafts, from hand-carved sopilky and embroidered blouses from Ukraine to hand-painted glass vases by a Ukrainian American artist, vied for attention with vocal, instrumental and dance presentations on stage.

Program director Anna Bachynska and announcers Ulana Kekish-Solodenko and Ivanka Mazur-Hodowanec had their hands full on Sunday (the day I took in the festival), keeping the program moving briskly so that singers and dancers standing side-stage would not turn blue while waiting to go on. Among the performers were singer/bandurist Alla Kutsevich, mezzo-soprano Iryna Hrechko, sopranos Veronica Kaninska and Laryssa Magun-Huryn, guitarist Yuriy Hreb, bandurist Ostap Stachiw and young singers Lidia and Gabriella Oros.

For many, the highlights were two very special groups: Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky's Syzokryli Dancers, whose grace and expertise never fail to amaze and delight viewers, and the Dumka Chorus, which presented an outstanding concert of religious music (including a Bortniansky work) in St. George's Church at the beginning of the afternoon. The chorus, directed by Vasyl Hrechynsky, is recording a CD of Ukrainian religious music which should be released this summer.

Saturday's program at the festival spotlighted young dancers from Ukrainian folk ensembles in the New York metropolitan area.

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is HaliaSmindak@aol.com.

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