Internationally acclaimed Bass-Baritone Pavlo Hunka performs Art Songs: Shevchenko and Shakespeare
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Toronto, ON – On Sunday, March 12, 2017, the Ukrainian Art Song Project presents Art Songs: Shevchenko and Shakespeare, featuring renowned British-Ukrainian, Bass-Baritone Pavlo Hunka, accompanied by Albert Krywolt. The performance will be held in Mazzoleni Hall, Telus Centre for Performance and Learning, at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are now on sale.
In this recital, internationally renowned Pavlo Hunka embraces the vision of comparing and contrasting the works of two great bards – Ukrainian poet, writer, artist Taras Shevchenko and William Shakespeare. – through the medium of art song. Hunka will perform art songs by classical Ukrainian composers: Mykola Lysenko, Yakiv Stepovyj and Stefania Turkewych, based on the poetry of Shevchenko, followed by a glorious song cycle, Song of Love, by contemporary composer Oleksander Jakovchuk, based on 12 Shakespearean sonnets, translated into Ukrainian by Ostap Tarnawsky.
In 2013, the Ukrainian Art Song Project released Taras Shevchenko: From Poetry to Art Song, a compilation of 24 art songs of Shevchenko’s poetry, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth. The recording featured Ukrainian composers: Mykola Lysenko, Yakiv Stepovyi, Denys Sichynsky, Vasyl Barvinsky, Stanyslav Liudkevych and Stefania Turkewich. Pavlo Hunka collaborated with a number of Canadian artists on this recording, including: Pavlo Hunka, Albert Krywolt, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Monica Whicher, Krisztina Szabo, Elizabeth Turnbull, Benjamin Butterfield, Russell Braun, Colin Ainsworth, Allyson McHardy, Serouj Kradjian, Roman Borys and Mia Bach.
Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, as well as a folklorist and ethnographer. Well regarded as a pictorial artist in his time, Shevchenko also pioneered the art of etching in the Russian Empire. His writings formed the foundation for the modern Ukrainian literature and he is considered the founder of the modern written Ukrainian language.
Pavlo Hunka is an internationally acclaimed opera singer and Artistic Director of the Ukrainian Art Song Project. He was born in England, the son of a Ukrainian father and English mother. He qualified as a linguist and then practiced as a lawyer in the United Kingdom before embarking on a stellar singing career. He studied vocal music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and completed them in Switzerland with Kammersängerin Maria Sandulescu. For the last 27 years, he has sung in the most prestigious opera houses around the world.
Albert Krywolt is one of Canada’s foremost collaborative pianists. He has been a vocal coach and musician in opera and art song for more than four decades, working with some of the greatest classical singers on the national and international stage. He was resident music director of the Edmonton Opera Association, music staff and Chief Coach with the Canadian Opera Company and works on numerous independent projects.
Tickets for Art Songs: Shevchenko and Shakespeare are on sale now at The Royal Conservatory of Music Box Office and are $35 for Students and $55 for Adults. Tickets can be purchased online at performance.rcmusic.ca or by calling 416-408-0208.
The Ukrainian Art Song Project was founded in 2004 with the goal of acquiring and promoting the classical treasures of Ukrainian art song and aims to record and publish a veritable anthology of over 1,000 art songs by 216 of Ukraine’s greatest composers. The project operates under the auspices of the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association, a registered charity, whose objectives are to promote Ukrainian classical music in all forms, including live performances and recordings.
For more information on the Ukrainian Art Song Project, go to http://www.ukrainianartsong.ca/.
