Bulletin #72. April.2012(Work)

.5-"%2!02), "!4(5234344/2/.4/ /.)33. Shevchenko Guild reaches another historic milestone This year marks 40 years since a new backgrounds were joining the Ensemble vision for the future of the Shevchen- and new audiences were giving their On the occasion of its ko Musical Ensemble was born, a bold approval of the goals of the Ensemble. 40th Anniversary the National vision which reected the reality of The time had come. The male cho- Shevchenko Musical Ensemble the times. rus, already in existence 20 years and Guild of Canada By 1972 the Shevchenko Male Cho- the orchestra 15, became the nucleus of proudly presents… rus, Toronto Mandolin Orchestra and a unique performing group with years dancers had been welded into a per- of experience in the arts community. forming ensemble unique in Canada. Although proud of their Ukrainian in concert In addition to its local performances, roots, the Ensemble leadership knew SHEVCHENKO both in large prestigious theatres and that the future of the Ensemble lie in its MUSICAL ENSEMBLE in the general community, this unique ability to become relevant to as broad Alexander Veprinsky, Artistic Director and highly qualied ensemble, then a cross-section of Canadian society under the artistic direction of Eugene as possible. They saw the Ensemble Dolny, won accolades from the media as a vehicle for reecting not only the all across this country and from thou- Ukrainian heritage, but a truly Canadian sands of concert goers in the Ukrai- culture. nian community and beyond. It was apparent that this large en- More and more people from all semble required an organization solely walks of life and different ethnic More 40th ANNIVERSARY on page 11 The SHEVCHENKO MUSICAL ENSEMBLE with guest artists DESNA UKRAINIAN DANCERS Sunday, May 27 at 2 pm Isabel Bader Theatre 93 Charles St. W $35/ $15 Students/Child Pre-Guild Ensemble Committee: (front row) Bill Morris, Helen Weir, Mary Kuzyk, Marie Barko, 416-533-2725 Eugene Dolny. (back row) Ray Dowhopoluk, Nick Pelowich, Walter Chernysh, Steve Soldat, Walter Balay, Ronnie Boychuk. Missing: Bill McCulla. Never too late to create ably the biggest motivator, was that I Ruth Budd, a retired TSO bass player who has traded that instrument in for wanted to prove that seniors can still the smaller, easier-to-handle mandola, has been a member of the Toronto Mandolin Orchestra for many years. After moving to a retirement home, Ruth do things and do them well. Our felt the need to keep active musically in her new surroundings and decided to youngest person is a tenor who is in do something about it. Here is her story. her seventies, our oldest is a soprano, who is 97! by Ruth Budd However, we have found ways to ac- At our most recent performance at The Christie Chorale, a seniors’ choir, commodate everyone. New Horizons (a neighbouring seniors was in my thinking some time before I At rst I wasn’t sure whether or not residence) we performed Ave Maria moved to Christie Gardens. But it took we could sing anything but in unison. by Giulio Caccini. He must have been me some time to adjust to my new So I thought that if we could sing a quite an amazingly talented man, as surroundings, so it wasn’t until four round like Frere Jaques and keep he was not only a composer, but an years ago that I actually put up a no- that going with all voices, we could instrumentalist, a singer and a teacher tice asking people to sign if they were probably sing in four part harmony. and is said to be the “father” of the opera genre. This Ave Maria is simple and in its simplicity is surely one of the most beautiful pieces of music. It has a beautiful obligato which can be sung by a soprano, played by a violin, ute, pan ute, oboe or any treble instrument. We have done it with most of the above. For this concert, however, we invited the wonderful Mary Kuzyk, concert master of the Toronto Mando- lin Orchestra, to play the obligato on her mandolin. And Mary is 93 years old! (By the way, the author is 88 years old. Ed.) Photographer Mary Kuzyk performing the obligato to Caccini’s Ave Maria sung by the Christie Chorale accompanied by Dr. Paul Jessen. Photo courtesy of New Horizons Tower Administration (and person) Extraodinaire interested in forming a choir. About 23 Strangely enough, we had a good bal- people responded and thus the choir ance right from the start with about was born. I did not know who could eleven sopranos, four altos, three ten- sing and in a way that didn’t matter. ors (all women), and four basses. We What I needed to know, was that there now have a huge repertoire including were that many people who wanted popular, folk, madrigals, hymns and Readers of the Bulletin may have to sing! classical pieces. Currently, we are noticed that more photos appear on I knew I did not want to conduct, working on the Hallelujah Chorus these pages. This is thanks to one but wanted to be one of choristers. from Handel’s Messiah and it is terric person, Wayne Gilbert, who donates his professional skills and So I searched the internet looking for sounding really quite respectable! talent to enhance the Ensemble’s a conductor, had three responses and You might wonder, why such an visual presentation. hired our beloved choirmaster, Dr. undertaking....well, for at least two Wayne attends all our concerts Paul Jessen, who is also our accompa- reasons. and events, recording them for nist. Today there are still several of the Firstly, I truly believe that to sing is posterity. A huge, and very sincere original members, some of whom have very good for one’s health, both physi- “thank you” to you, Wayne, from problems walking, standing or seeing. cal and mental. Secondly, and prob- all of us. 2 Successful choral collaboration Another successful collaboration Patria Oppressa from the opera Macbeth, brought the Shevchenko Choir and the the French-Canadian folk song La Laine des Darbazi Georgian Singers together on Moutons and Peg-Leg’s Fiddle by Canadian January 29 at Columbus Centre. composer Morris Surdin. The Shevchenko Choir opened The climax of the afternoon was the join- the concert with Ukrayina, a song of ing of both choirs to sing Suliko, a beautiful passionate love for Ukraine, a Ukrai- traditional Georgian song, the Ukrainian folk nian folk song, a contemporary song, song Oy, tam za lisochkom Chornobryvtsi, with soloist Herman (Beyond the Grove) (and, Rombouts, and a lively Russian song, yes, the Shevchenko Choir the Lonely Concertina Player. sang in Georgian and Darbazi With a goal to bringing young per- sang in Ukrainian!). formers to our stages, the concert once A moving tribute was paid again welcomed Andrei Anissimov to Canada with both choirs who played Rachmaninoff’s Italian singing O Lovely Land, Polka on domra accompanied by his words by Joe Wallace and sister Veronika on piano. music by Paul Sweetman. Veronika then took centre stage to perform Schubert’s Ave Maria accompanied by pianist Elena Zviagina. The very youngest, the Children’s “Buttery” Vocal Ensemble, in beautiful ‘sarafans’, sang two Ukrainian folk songs. All the young performers were re- ceived with loud and warm applause. The Darbazi Georgian Singers, conducted by Shalva Makharashvili, sang a set of six traditional and very lively songs from different regions of Georgia. Their beautiful and stunning harmony amazed the audience with the gentle blending of their voices in the traditional Georgian polyphonic style. The beautiful girls of the Desna Ukrainian Dance Co., dressed in the colours of the rainbow, closed the rst half with lively twirls and spins in a Festive Dance. Darbazi performed another set of traditional songs, some accompanied by traditional string instruments of Georgia, which sang of love for country, a plain old love song so prevalent in folk songs, and a song of labour. Desna returned with the ever popular Hopak in which the male dancers reach for the sky in their leaps, never failing to get the audience hooting and hollering for more. In their nal set, the Shevchenko Choir performed two classical selec- tions – Mozart’s Ave Verum and Verdi’s 3 Banquet honours bingo volunteers The Guild’s Annual Banquet, held last October 16, paid tribute to the committee of volunteers who work at the city’s charity bingos on behalf of the Guild. Board members Lorna Clark, Pat Ignacz and Gin- ger Kautto introduced the volunteers and spoke of the generous commitment they have made to this important fundraising project. The Guild got involved in these community bingos in 1992 through the efforts of Joe Cook, then Treasurer of the Board, who went in search of new sources of revenue for the Guild. After Joe’s retirement, Bill Morris took the leadership André Denton Roman Paraschuk of this project and worked on it for many years.Today six volunteers dedicate themselves to this important project. André Denton is responsible for organzing the sched- ule of workers. The volunteers commit themselves to work at any number of bingo sessions over a six month period on which the licence is issued. In each period the Guild may be allotted 12-13 bingo sessions, or 24-26 over the period of a year. At the banquet, after a delicious Ukrainian-style din- ner, individual tributes were made to the volunteers and sincere thanks were extended for their work on behalf of the Guild.

Load more