Ukrainian arts and culture are on tap to make a big splash in New York City this fall, coming to such iconic venues as Carnegie Hall and the New York City Center.
Once overshadowed and culturally appropriated by its imperial neighbor — Russia — Ukrainian music, art, ballet and cinema are now rightfully claiming their spot on the global map, reminding the world that there is a lot more to Ukraine and its people than the latest news from the frontlines.
Ukraine’s cultural outreach this year largely comes in the framework of The Ukrainian Cultural Festival, which takes place from October 15th through October 31st in New York. “The main idea is to show that Ukrainian culture exists, because if the culture exists, then the people exist, the nation exists,” says Maria Genkin, a cultural advocate and member of the board of directors of Razom, a New York based human rights organization. “The whole premise of the war that Russia has been waging on Ukraine is to deny Ukrainians the right of existence. We want to show American audiences that Ukrainians exist.” Genkin adds, that’s why it’s important to hear Ukrainian poetry, to hear music, to see ballet.
American audiences in 16 cities across the East Coast will get a chance to see the Ukrainian ballet, in the form of Kyiv’s National Ballet of Ukraine, which is making its first visit to the U.S. in 30 years. The tour is “much more than just a world-class ballet performance,” said Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States. “It’s also a symbol of the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people, an opportunity to once again celebrate the rich and outstanding cultural heritage of Ukraine, and to share it with everyone, to share it with our friends.”
The month-long tour in the U.S. starts on October 8th, with performances at New York City Center on October 15 and 16th. The program features timeless classics, such as The Dying Swan, Don Quixote, and Giselle. The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers, from Canada, join the tour with their athletic choreography of Ukraine’s traditional dance, The Hopak.
The Ukrainian Cultural festival is co-presented by Razom for Ukraine, the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv, and produced in partnership with the National Ballet of Ukraine, Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, Yara Arts, Ukrainian Museum, KISFF, Linoleum Festival, and others.
For two weeks, New Yorkers will have a chance to experience a number of literary, cinema and art events, most of them tailored to English-speaking audiences, including Yara Arts Group’s “Slap!” album launch at Bowery Poetry club, “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” art show by Rukh Art Hub at the Mriya art gallery in Tribeca, talks and discussions at the Harriman Institute at New York’s Columbia University.
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Ukrainian vocalists and composers have been entertaining international audiences for decades, such as the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York. In New York, on October 13th Dumka Chorus marks its 75th Year of Musical Heritage with an anniversary concert at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at 3pm, at 566 LaGuardia Place. The Dumka chorus was established in 1949 as a male chorus by Ukrainians who escaped from the terror of the Kremlin regime, and it became a mixed chorus ten years later.
Although an amateur chorus, it has provided professional quality performances for decades at venues like Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and others. It appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, in February 2022, singing “Prayer for Ukraine”, and has performed under the artistic direction of Vasyl Hrechynsky from Lviv, Ukraine, for over three decades.
Young singers from the children’s division Moloda Dumka, as well as a renowned Japanese violinist and composer Ikuko Kawai, Ukrainian pop singer Khrystyna Soloviy, and male vocal group Trioda will join the Dumka singers at their anniversary concert in New York. The fall season promises to be busy for Hreschynsky’s Dumka—the chorus is set to perform at Carnegie Hall later in October and at St. Patrick’s cathedral for the annual concert to honor those lost during Russia’s genocide of millions of Ukrainians through an artificial famine during the 1930s known as Holodomor.
A special performance by the Orchestra for Ukraine, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, with artists from more than a dozen countries, will take place at Carnegie Hall on October 23rd.
The Concert for the Children and Youth of Ukraine—a benefit to help Ukrainian children affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine—is organized in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, as well as the New York–based diplomatic institutions of numerous participating countries. Besides the Orchestra for Ukraine, the concert will feature world renowned musicians and composers, the Dumka chorus, the Oratorio Society of New York, and will be hosted by film director and actor Liev Schreiber, co-founder of the BlueCheck Ukraine foundation.
The Ukrainian Museum in the New York’s East Village neighborhood has new exhibitions on a display. A show by Alexandra Exter, a Ukrainian avant-garde artist from the early 20th century, was opened by none other than Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, during his visit to the USA last month.
New York-based artist Molly Gochman presented “UKR|RUS” and “Dispersed Geographies,” two sculptural multi-sited, city-wide installations accompanied by community events – one of them hosted outside of the Ukrainian Museum on October 5th, with Ukrainian modern and traditional music, arts and crafts open for public participation. Right nearby, at the Ukrainian National Home, Ivan Bernatsky’s Ukrainian Drama Theater performed an adaptation of Vasyl Stefanyk’s novella “Sons”, featuring Volodymyr Kurylo.
“It’s important to remind Americans that the Ukrainian state is not a figment of their imaginations,” Genkin of Razom said. “It’s very real. If there is music, if there is poetry, then there are people—it’s the most basic form of culture.”
Source: Forbes