People talk a lot about Taras Shevchenko, especially in the times of despair, disappointment and searching for guidelines. Then they try to find extracts of wisdom, which become a certain landmark, in his messages «to the dead, the living and to those who haven’t been born…». This year literary-art event dedicated to the 203rd anniversary of Ukrainian genius in Lviv Polytechnic had the following theme – «Embrace, my brothers» as an appeal to stand united against our common enemy and for the sake of the future.
The brevity of the event and the talents of the polytechnics provided a special mood for everyone. It seemed that people held their breath during each performance not to disturb that special atmosphere. Ovations and the impressions shared by the audience after the event prove that the concert was held at a very high level.
Every year, preparing concert program, Stepan Shalata, the director of the concert, distinguished worker of culture, director of «Prosvita» People’s House, tries to introduce something new and interesting into the form or content of the event. This year’s zest of the event dedicated to Taras Shevchenko was the joint performance of two choirs – People’s men choir «Orpheus» and People’s chapel choir of students «Gaudeamus» accompanied by People’s symphony orchestra (conducted by Roman Kreslenko). They performed such songs as «Rejoice, the unwatered field» and «Wide Dnipro roars and moans».
The audience admired the emotional performance of Chan Kuok Khan, student of ICCT and a participant of «The country’s voice» talent show, who sang «I do not care…» accompanied by the People’s symphony orchestra (conducted by Mykola Orach, distinguished art worker). The boy impressed everyone with his fluency in Ukrainian and his sensual perception of Shevchenko’s words about the fate of Ukraine.
Bohdana Voyat, a first year student of IHSS, who won an award for reciting Shevchenko’s poetry, demonstrated how modern people understand the importance of the Ukrainian genius by reciting one of his poems. Her dynamics and charisma added to the brightness of the poem.
Maryan Shunevych, People’s Artist of Ukraine, was a special guest of the event. Together with the music band «Suzirya», he sang the song «Make peace, sons». «Suzirya» band trio, among whom there was Hrystyna Dutchak, a participant of «The country’s voice» talent show, performed a song accompanied by the People’s symphony orchestra.
The actors of the People’s theatre-studio «Hochu» (directed by Anastasiya Nepomnyashcha) also took part in the event. Its actors, Vasyl Filyas and Yevhen Kisel, recited poems separately. People’s band of bandura players «Zaspiv» (chief conductor Hrystyna Zalutska), People’s band «Polifonia» (chief conductor Roman Kreslenko), People’s chamber band «Akolada» (conductor Volodymyr Savytskiy), People’s dancing company «Virnist» (chief choreographer Anatoliy Folyush) and soloist Anna Chorna participated in the event.
Olha Shmakova and Oleh Derkach of the theatre-studio «Hochu» were the hosts of the event.
