This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Art Song Project and the sixth time a summer intensive for young singers has been held in Toronto.  The final concert on Sunday afternoon in Temerty Theatre was run on similar lines to the previous year.  There was a piano in the middle of the room with the audience “in the round” and singers singing from different places in the room.

The programme was divided into two two halves.  The first was songs about Nature.; the second songs of Dedication and a tribute to Ukraine’s national poet Taras Shevchenko.  I’m not sure what to say about Ukrainian art song as a genre that I haven’t already said in previous years.  The songs draw musically on the Western classical tradition (and mostly date from the 19th and early 20th century) with plenty of folk influence.  They are beautiful but typically so sad that any hint of light is welcome!  They reflect a grim reality but they provide excellent material for young voices.  The duets are particularly effective.

There were eight singers on display; five sopranos (Mayanna Carter, Polina Kornyuyshenko, Olessia Shewchuk, Anna Tanczak and Baillie Melnyk), two baritones (Jordan Welbourne and Dariyan Dubik) and a solitary tenor (Nicholas Kluftinger). Pianio accompaniment was provided by Steven Philcox, Leanne Regehr and Isabel Stanyer.   I’m not going to do a blow by blow of the twenty-one songs performed but just draw out some places I found particularly pleasing.

,,There were a couple of songs from Nicholas Kluftinger that showed a really appealing tenor voice and some dramatic flair.  There was Turkewich’s “Evening Song” early on and then, in the last number but one a beautifully articulated version of Lysenko’s “The Wind Rests in the Grove”.  Sopranos Anna Tanczak and Olesia Shewchuk sounded really nice together, with contrasting timbres, in Lysenko’s simple, strophic “The Spinner”.  Polina Kornyushenko displayed considerable control and evenness of tone through her registers in Lysenko’s rather weird “The Princess”.

There was another pleasing duet from Baille Melnyk and Mayanna Carter with Lysenko’s (again but less weird!) “The Boat Drifts On”.  Much the most operatic voice on display was the baritone Dariyan Dubik.He’s got real heft, a pleasing timbre and some dramatic flair.  He was very well suited to Stepovy’s super dramatic “An Endless Steppe” and the equally striking “A Prophet Enraged” by Volynsky.  He and Kluftinger also sang a rather jolly version of Stepovy’s “Evening”.

So once again faculty Benjamin Butterfield, Andrea Ludwig, Melanie Turgeon, Steven Philcox and Leanne Regehr successfully accomplished the mission of introducing more young singers to the corpus of Ukrainian art song and showcasing it for us, the audience.

Photo credits: Andrew Waller for the Ukrainian Art Song Project