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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Talents of Ukraine – 2011 Canadian Tour

Boen Performing Arts is bringing another fabulous Ukrainian act to Canada this fall.

Just got word of it and waiting to get details from Ken Kachmar of Boen Arts ... this story is so new it it wasn't even posted on their website the last time I checked!

Here's what is known so far:

The show tour, dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Ukrainians in Canada, will feature The Honored Academic Song and Dance Company of Ukraine "Donbas."

The group began its creative activity in 1937 in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine and since then has enchanted audiences with the bright spectacle of the song and dance of their native land.

Many well known choreographers  have worked in this Dance Company, including Pavlo Virsky, Oleksiy Homon, and Valentyn Mykhailow.

Donbas has performed in Poland, Romania, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal and other European venues. During the last decade, under the direction of Valentyn Kichik and artistic direction of Oleksander Prokopenko, they performed in the USA, China, Syria and three times in Brazil.

I couldn't find a website for them but did come across this delightful YouTube video of a group by that name. If it's the same group then Canadian audiences are in for a real treat!



Featured soloists are violinist Innesa Tymochko and singers Svitlana Sasu and Yevhen Vaskin.

Innesa Tymochko has performed at concerts, banquets, festivals, on television, radio, and in theaters throughout Europe, including Belgium, Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Russia and Chernohirja. In 2005 she was a featured performer at the internationally acclaimed Eurovision Awards, Europe's answer to America's Grammy Awards, held in Kyiv.

Yevhen Vaskin has a charming tenor voice and a varied repertoire ranging from folk songs to contemporary arrangements of original compositions. He has performed extensively on the international scene and has won several all-Ukrainian vocal competitions.

Svitlana Sasu is a Ukrainian actress and singer, originally from Moldova, who currently lives and works in Kyiv. She has won many awards, including the International vocal competition "Baltic Trembita" in Tallin, Estonia (2005), the International competition "Perlyna" (Pearl) in Tyraspil, Moldova (2007), an international competition of Ukrainian songs "Hilka Kalyny" (Rasberry branch) in Rome, Italy (2010, and in 2011, she was the winner of the International singing competition of Ukrainian Romance in Lviv, Ukraine, honouring the beloved Ukrainian American singer, the late Kvitka Cisyk.

So far this is where The Talents of Ukraine 2011 Canadian Tour is booked to perform:

Vancouver on Tuesday, October 11 at The Centre For Performing Arts, 777 Homer St. (Tickets)

Vernon on Wednesday, October 12 at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre (Tickets)
 
Edmonton on  Friday, October 14 at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 11455 — 87 Avenue (Tickets)

More details as I get them. Stay tuned!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With my ethnicity being Ukrainian, I was truly looking foward to this show. Unfortunately - Very disappointed! The show was quite boring. Lacked any kind of lustre. The group is very talented in dance..but..it was basically like a dance routine. Poor choreography.'. No story to their dance, costumes bland..some had nothing to do with being Ukrainian, music slow/not upbeat exciting! There was nothing in this show to get the crowd excited/interested-involved with the music. The singers made the show feel 'unprofessional'. Ukrainian disco singing/music? Just did not fit in...The male singer tried to get the crowd to clap along but only a 'few' did.
Very disappointed...Had to explain to my friend...this is 'not' the beautiful dance/music/fun of the Ukrainian lifestyle I grew up with...It is actually fun! not like this show..boring/lacked any kind of lustre...Not worth the $60.

Pawlina said...

Thanks for your comment.

I actually enjoyed the show very much.

The costumes were very colourful and I thought they as well as the dances and the music did a nice job of blending the traditional with the contemporary.

The singers I agree need to hone their performances but overall I found them both quite delightful.

And the violinist (who was interviewed on Nash Holos here) was, as expected, outstanding.

I also agree that an MC to introduce the acts would be a nice touch. Perhaps between us we can convince Ken at Boen Arts to add one to future show tours. :-)

Thanks again for the feedback, and for supporting Ukrainian culture in Vancouver!

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