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The rich legacy of Ukraine has left an indelible mark in western Canada, and the ESO is privileged to celebrate the culture of Ukraine with an unforgettable night of music and dance.
Program to include:
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 “Ukrainian”: Finale
Various: Ukrainian Christmas Medley
Leontovych: Carol of the Bells
Traditional: Hopak
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Ticket Information
$71 Dress Circle (A)
$61 Terrace (B)
$52 Orchestra (C)
$38 Upper Circle (D)
$28 Gallery (E)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
The next Robbins Lighter Classics performance is Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush on March 3, 2011.
Thank you to the generous supporters of this series: Bill & Mary Jo Robbins
Thank you to our performance sponsor: 
Thank you to our series television media sponsor: 
Our Resident Conductor Lucas Waldin appears in part thanks to the support of Enbridge.Program Info
LAVALLÉE (Arr Zenoby Lawryshyn)O Canada
Ukrainian Male Chorus
VERBYTSKY (Arr Peter Breiner)
Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrayina ("Ukraine's Glory Has Not Perished") (Ukrainian Anthem) (2’)*
Ukrainian Male Chorus
TRADITIONAL (Arr Roman Soltykewych)
Zhuravel’ (2’)*
Ukrainian Male Chorus
TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Opus 17 “Ukrainian”: IV. Finale (11’)*
VARIOUS (Arr Peter Wiebe)
Ukrainian Christmas Medley (6’)*
TCHAIKOVSKY (Arr Leopold Stokowski)
Andante cantabile (from String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Opus 11) (9’)*
W ZWOZDESKY
Malanka Suite: Selections (9’)*
Ukrainian Male Chorus
LEONTOVYCH (Arr Robert Wendel)
Carol of the Bells (5’)*
Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company
INTERMISSION
Happy Five (from Once Upon a Time in Old Kyiv) (4’)*
Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company
TIOMKIN
Theme from High Noon (3’)*
PROKOFIEV
Peter and the Wolf, Opus 67 (25’)*
Gene Zwozdesky, narrator
Edmonton Hopak (5’)*
Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program subject to change.
Program Notes
Tonight’s concert could not get off to a more Canadian prairie start. Following a flourish by the Edmonton Symphony, Canada’s national anthem will be heard in a tri-lingual arrangement (English, French, and Ukrainian) prepared by Zenoby Lawryshyn. The orchestra will then present Peter Breiner’s orchestration of Ukraine’s national anthem Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrayina (“Ukraine’s glory has not perished”).
Zhuravel (“The Crane”) is a traditional Ukrainian folksong, which describes the awkward, darting movements of the wading bird. It will be sung in an arrangement by Roman Soltykewych, founder of the Dnipro Choir and father of Orest Soltykewych, who founded the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton (UCME). Zhuravel served as the basis for a remarkable set of variations which form the final movement of Symphony No. 2 “Ukrainian” by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). Written in the summer of 1872, while visiting the Ukrainian village of Kamenka, many of the themes used in the symphony were based on folksongs Tchaikovsky sought out whenever he visited Ukraine, where his sister had a home.
We will hear a couple of other traditional songs in two different guises as well this evening. Peter Wiebe’s arrangement of several Ukrainian Christmas carols includes the lullaby Spy Isuse spy, as well as Dar dnes prybohaty (“The Gift of This Day”), Vozveselimsia (“Let Us All Rejoice”), and Rozhdestvo Khrystove (“The Birth of Christ”). However, it also includes Dobry vechir pane hospodariu (“Good Evening to You Lord Master”) and Shchedry vechir (“Generous,” or “Bountiful Eve”) – which feature in the Malanka Suite (see below) as well. The Ukrainian Christmas Medley concludes with Boh predvichny (“God eternal”), the primary carol sung prior to the meal of the twelve meatless dishes on Christmas Eve.
Ukrainian Christmas, as noted above, encompasses twelve days, and each day has a special significance. Sviat-Vechir (Christmas Eve), for example, is a night of solemnity and reverence, and is the night when the meal of the twelve meatless dishes takes place. The Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen (which occurs the second day of Christmas) is also noted during this time of year, which concludes with the celebration of Bohoiavlennia (Epiphany). Malanka has become the term associated with the rituals for New Year’s Eve. Because New Year’s Day is dedicated to St. Basil, he figures prominently in the December 31 traditions. Willi Zwozdesky’s Malanka Suite is an original composition which incorporates several traditional songs for this festive occasion. Tonight’s excerpts are generally secular and are used to celebrate the bounty of the season and the fellowship and good cheer of the New Year with much hosting and visitation among family and friends. In particular, families are encouraged on the Night of Generosity to include at their table strangers or other individuals travelling away from their families to share in the bountiful evening.
So ubiquitous has the much-loved Carol of the Bells become in this part of the world that it is truly ironic that the story of its composer is not better known. Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921) was a champion of the music of his homeland, a cause which earned him the love of his countrymen, and the wrath of the Soviet regime that objected to both the patriotism and religious faith that music often expressed. On the night of January 22, 1921, Soviet state security agent Viktor Greshchenko crept into the home of Leontovych’s parents while he visited there, and assassinated him. Greshchenko was never called to answer for his crime.
Leontovych’s song Shchedryk tells the story of a bird, darting around a village and seeing all the activities taking place on the twelfth day of Christmas. The Alexander Koshetz choir performed the work at Carnegie Hall in the early 1920s, before a crowd which included several composers (including the Gershwins). Its melody captivated many, and it was not long before English words were written to it, and it became known as Carol of the Bells. Parenthetically, another song heard at the same concert was the inspiration for Summertime, from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.
Before there was a Moscow, or a St. Petersburg, there was Kyiv. As far back as the 10th century, Kyiv was the centre of commerce and cultural life in Rus’. Destroyed by Mongols in 1240, the city gradually re-emerged to prominence, and is the capital and largest city in Ukraine. Set in nineteenth century Kyiv, Once Upon a Time in Old Kyiv is a dance inspired by a story by M. Staretski, about a young man who likes to court many women. Because he talks so much, he becomes confused and tells all these women to meet him at the same time in the same place. What would happen to him when they all meet?
Why is music from a classic Gary Cooper western part of a Ukrainian evening? Because the soundtrack for High Noon (1952) was written by Ukrainian-born composer Dimitri Tiomkin (1894-1979). Following studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tiomkin actually got his professional career started as a pianist for silent films in Russia, where he was also exposed to ragtime and American jazz. It was his wife’s career as a choreographer that brought him to the U.S., where he settled, and became one of the most noted film scorers in Hollywood. His work on High Noon earned an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for the unforgettable Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling.
Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891-1953) presence at this concert will doubtless raise eyebrows. While born in Ukraine, Prokofiev never felt himself connected to it in the way many on tonight’s program did. In fact, after unsuccessfully attempting to find fame and fortune in Europe and the U.S., Prokofiev settled in the Soviet Union, content to toe the party line for the most part, and was well treated by the Soviet regime – especially in comparison to the fate which befell others, such as Leontovych. It was after he took his two sons to a concert at the Moscow Children’s Music Theatre in 1936 that conceived the idea of a composition for young audiences, designed to introduce them to the instrumental sounds of the orchestra, but doing it with more than just a “This is what a bassoon sounds like,” approach. That’s how he conceived Peter and the Wolf, which has become perhaps the most popular work for young orchestral audiences.
Rather than simply assign an instrument to each character of the story, Prokofiev also gives each its own theme. Peter’s string theme is filled with the openness and insouciance of youth; the twittering call of the flute is imitative of birdsong. Grandfather’s bassoon lumbers along, you can almost see him hunched over as he shuffles about; the sinewy cat’s soft movements are at home on the velvety clarinet. The oboe’s theme depicts the duck’s smooth glide across the pond, while the menace of the wolf brings out a richly harmonized tune for three horns together. The themes are varied to depict the action of the story, and the skillful interplay with which Prokofiev weaves it all together says much more than the words of the story convey on their own.
Tonight’s concert concludes with a colourful Hopak, unofficially the national dance of Ukraine. The Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company has several Hopaks in its arsenal, and tonight’s vivacious and athletic dance is aptly named Edmonton Hopak.
Program Notes © 2010 by D.T. Baker, with thanks to Andrew Hladyshevsky for his invaluable assistance.
Artist Bios
Lucas Waldin, conductor
The 2010/11 season marks the second for Lucas Waldin as Resident Conductor for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. This mentorship position is made possible through the Canada Council for the Arts and Enbridge. Mr. Waldin graduated in 2006 from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Masters in Conducting. He has performed with L'Orchestre du Festival Beaulieu-Sur-Mer (Monaco), Staatstheater Cottbus (Brandenburg), and Bachakademie Stuttgart. Lucas was assistant conductor of the contemporary orchestra RED (Cleveland), director of the Cleveland Bach Consort, and a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival. In 2007, he was invited to conduct the Miami-based New World Symphony Orchestra in masterclasses given by Michael Tilson Thomas. In Lucerne in 2009, he also participated in a masterclass led by Bernard Haitink, with the Lucerne Festival Strings.
A native of Toronto, Lucas Waldin has spent summers studying in Europe, including studies at the International Music Academy in Leipzig, the Bayreuth Youth Orchestra, and the Acanthes New Music Festival in France. On this continent, he has studied under the renowned Bach conductor Helmut Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival, and has attended conducting masterclasses with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. Mr. Waldin received a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from the Cleveland Institute, studying with Joshua Smith.
The ESO would like to thank Enbridge Pipelines for their commitment to the arts and this program by matching the funding provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.
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Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton
For over 26 years the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton (UMCE) has pursued the objective of developing, promoting, and fostering a greater appreciation of the traditions of Ukrainian choral singing. The UMCE performed at Expo ’86 in Vancouver and represented Canada at the 1996 International Choral Festival in Missoula, Montana. In 2000, they performed at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival (Dauphin, mb). The chorus toured Poland and Western Ukraine in 2002, and later that year put on a gala concert at the Winspear Centre, with guest artists John Stetch and the Zuk Piano Duo. The UMCE’s repertoire includes a substantial body of commissioned works, among them compositions by Yuri Shevchenko and Willi Zwozdesky. In 2003, the latter’s Malanka Suite was premiered to wide acclaim. This work was released on CD (conductor Greg Maluzynsky), complementing the choir’s two previous recordings, That Old Sheepskin Coat (1992) and The Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton LIVE! (2002).The UMCE joined the Suzirya Ukrainian Dance Theatre of Calgary in the extremely successful Virsky-inspired folk opera Kateryna. Produced by Serguei Makarov, Kateryna premiered in Calgary and Edmonton in June 2007, and thereafter toured to Winnipeg, Victoria and Nanaimo, Montreal and Ottawa, and four Australian cities. The full orchestral and choral soundtrack to Kateryna (composer Yevhen Dosenko) was released as the choir’s fourth CD. Orest Soltykevych, the UMCE’s founding and present conductor, has sung with Richard Eaton Singers, Da Camera Singers, and Kapella Kyrie. He founded the program Sounds Ukrainian at CJSR Radio, and today he hosts the Saturday Breakfast on Alberta’s CKUA Radio Network. He is also assistant conductor of St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Orthodox Parish Choir in Edmonton. The UMCE’s accompanist, Roman Soltykevych, has completed Grade 8 at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company
Through discipline, determination and pride, Cheremosh has earned phenomenal success as a semi-professional Ukrainian Dance Company. Rich in intensity, energy and spirit, Cheremosh has a reputation of bringing an amazing entertainment spectacle to the stage. Since 1991, the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company has trained under the guidance of Artistic Director and Ballet Master Mykola Kanevets, formally of Kyiv, Ukraine. His work and instruction have helped Cheremosh soar to new heights and achieve remarkable success. In June 2001, Kanevets received the City of Edmonton’s prestigious Arts Achievement Award. The award recognized his dedication and achievements as Cheremosh’s Artistic Director, and was a testament to his hard work and unsurpassed choreography.Gene Zwozdesky, narrator
Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Alberta’s Minister of Health and Wellness, has been elected five times to the Alberta Legislature. His previous Cabinet appointments include: Minister of Education, Minister of Culture, Minister of Aboriginal Relations, Associate Minister of Health and Wellness, and Associate Minister of Capital Planning. Mr. Zwozdesky is also the Deputy Government House Leader, and a member of the Agenda and Priorities Committee as well as Treasury Board. He holds a B.A. and a B.Ed degree from the University of Alberta (U of A), and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the U of A.Multimedia
The Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company:My ESO COMMUNITY
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