«This diamond must be heard in Lviv Polytechnic» – finally decided the Director of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations. While organizing the event that let us discover a talented singer who was known in the world, but not in Ukraine, she heard splendid performance of Ivanna Taratula Filipenko, the opera singer from San Francisco, who was singing arias once sung by Ira Malaniuk, one of the most prominent soloists of the Vienna, Zurich and Munich operas.
On June 21, the Assembly Hall of the main building of Lviv Polytechnic gathered admirers of good music. The Acting Rector of Lviv Polytechnic, Professor Yurii Bobalo, welcomed the participants, emphasizing the great importance of such an event for our university and Lviv citizens in general. IECDR staff on their behalf and on behalf of the Ukrainian diaspora expressed him congratulations on the victory in the rector’s election.
For over an hour and a half, Ivanna Taratula Filippenko (accompanied by pianist Oksana Pelekh), whose mezzo-soprano is remarkably similar to the voice of the opera prima donna Ira Malaniuk, performed arias by world-famous composers in the Assembly Hall of Polytechnic. By the way, Ivanna Taratula Filippenko is a Lvivite who once studied at the Lviv Music School, then in the Lviv Conservatory and later continued her study in the USA. Now, she is a Professor of Music at Los Medanos College and music director of Julivanna Music Studio, Voice Coach. She is also a volunteer and initiator of the Concert Project With Love to Ukraine, which was aimed to raise money for families affected during the war in eastern Ukraine.
The audience enjoyed singing and page-by-page discovered the life of a great singer, who was receiving ovations in the largest halls of the world – in Italy, France, Great Britain, Spain, Argentina and other countries, charming with her voice, acting and beauty, bestowed by God. The event, organized by Oksana Piatkovska and Andrii Yatsiv, IECDR Deputy Directors, was dedicated to the 100th birth anniversary of Ira Malaniuk.
The event ended with the words of appreciation by the guest from San Francisco Ivanna Taratula Filipenko, who was impressed by the perception of her singing and acquaintance with Polytechnicians as well as pleased with the opportunity to honor the great person Ira Malaniuk performing the aria, with which Ira Malaniuk impressed the world
