Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor to honor Ukrainian of the Year (11/05/06)

Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor to honor Ukrainian of the Year

by Michael J. Berezowsky

DETROIT - The Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor, an organization of college and university graduates, professionals and businesspersons in Metropolitan Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, will honor Oleh Mahlay, artistic director and conductor of the famous Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus at the Graduates' 67th anniversary banquet on Sunday, November 19.

An organization active in the Ukrainian communities of Detroit and Windsor since 1939, the Ukrainian graduates has, since 1955, annually honored a "Ukrainian of the Year" to recognize individuals who have been particularly active in the Ukrainian communities in the United States or Canada or made special contributions to them.

Previous recipients of the award include Vera Andrushkiw, former Congressman David Bonior, Dr. Paul Dzul, Dr. Myron Kuropas, Vera Petrusha and Marie Zarycky, and the late Mary Beck, Jaroslaw Dobrowolskyj, John Panchuk, Canadian Governor General Raymond Hnatyshyn, Canadian Justice John Sopinka, Anastasia Volker, Canadian Sen. Paul Yuzyk, Stephen Wichar, Martha and Michael Wichorek and Emily Zaporozhetz.

Mr. Mahlay, this year's recipient of the "Ukrainian of the Year" award, an attorney by profession living in Parma, Ohio, frequently comes to Detroit in his role as artistic director and conductor of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, which has been based in Detroit, since emigrating to the United States after the second world war.

The chorus, named in honor of Taras Shevchenko, the great Ukrainian poet, traces its origins to 1918 in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. It has made numerous concert tours of the United States, Canada and Western Europe, and has twice toured Ukraine since its independence. Its previous music directors and conductors in the United States were Hryhory Kytasty (a previous Graduates' "Ukrainian of the Year" honoree), Volodymyr Bozhyk, Hryhory Nazarenko, Ivan Zadorozhnyj, Petro Potapenko and Wolodymyr Kolesnyk. The chorus' extensive musical repertoire is available on CDs and cassettes. Its website is www.bandura.org.

Mr. Mahlay has made great contributions in maintaining the bandurists' very high level of artistic performance, spending many weekends every year in Detroit and working tirelessly with the members of the chorus, many of whom, like him, also come trom different states and provinces. Mr. Mahlay and every member of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus deserve the continuing admiration and appreciation of every American and Canadian of Ukrainian heritage for their deep commitment to Ukrainian music and culture, for their continuing hard work and devoted efforts in preserving, performing and popularizing Ukrainian choral music throughout the world, according to the Ukrainian Graduates.

The "Ukrainian of the Year" Award is a well-deserved recognition of Maestro Mahlay's efforts and achievements and is intended to honor him individually and, by extension, to honor every member of the capella as well, the Graduates noted.

During the anniversary banquet, Lydia Nehaniv, chairman of the scholarship committee, will announce this year's recipients of the Ukrainian Graduates scholarship awards to local Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian college students. For many years now, the Ukrainian Graduates, among its other activities (which have included the creation, renovation and endowment of the beautiful Ukrainian room at Wayne State University in Detroit) has given financial aid to hundreds of deserving students attending colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada.

This year's scholarship recipients are: Lubomyr Berezowsky (Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Ill.); Michelle Bocian (University of Windsor); Vasyl Mayorchak (Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.); Yuri Mayorchak (Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Mich.), recipient of the Ivan Halich Memorial Scholarship; Natalia Pavlyuk (Macomb Community College, Warren, Mich.); Alexander Prysiazhniuk (Wayne State University); Peter Sawka (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Mich.), recipient of the Wichorek Family Memorial Scholarship; Joseph Stoiko (Michigan State University), recipient of the Tanya Dubriwny Memorial Scholarship; and Nicholas Zurawskyj (University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit), recipient of the Alex Sutaruk Memorial Scholarship.

The 67th anniversary banquet of the Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor will be held on Sunday, November 19, at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Warren, Mich. Tickets may be purchased by calling 586-268-8863, 248-851-7093 or 586-758-6086 or at the Ukrainian Selfreliance and Future Credit Unions.

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