The Weis Center will welcome world music ensemble Kurbasy from Lviv, Ukraine on Friday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center.
A free pre-performance talk will take place in the Atrium from 6:30-7 p.m.
The performance is sponsored, in part, Gary and Sandy Sojka and Center Stage.
Kurbasy is on tour in the USA as part of Center Stage, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government. It is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc.
When at the Weis Center, they will present “Songs of the Ukrainian Forest” a 75-minute song cycle, presented without an intermission. This performance is part of the Weis Center’s year-long Trees Series.
The folk-based multimedia performances vibrate in tight vocal harmonies, resonant lyrics, distinctive instrumentation and phantasmagoric visual imagery.
“Songs of the Ukrainian Forest” draws on the repertoires of the eastern, central and western regions of Ukraine. The language varies according to the origin of the songs, and the lyrics tell stories of boys and girls, love and joy, but also of war.
Kurbasy is a contemporary musical project of the renowned progressive Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine. Founded in 2008 as an informal vocal gathering of singer-actresses, the group has performed across Europe – from the front lines of occupied Eastern Ukraine to concert halls in Western Europe and in the U.S.
The ensemble includes:
~Mariia Oneshchak, Vocals
~Nataliia Rybka-Parkhomenko, Vocals
~Vsevolod Sadovyi, Ukrainian Instruments
~Severyn Danyleiko, Cello
~Artem Kamenkov, Double Bass
~Markiian Turkanyk, Violin
The idea of culture as a cosmic living organism is central to Kurbasy, whose folk-based multimedia performances conjure the natural world, beliefs, and rituals. The theatrical foundation of the group is central to Kurbasy’s aesthetic. The music they perform is tied to, celebrates, and renews the rituals and the lived memories of Ukraine and her people.
Led by actor-vocalists Mariia Oneshchak and Nataliia Rybka-Parkhomenko, Kurbasy’s performances trace a theatrical arc to reveal the stories held in the songs of their rich repertoire.
“Songs of the Ukrainian Forest” is a conversation between two actress-singers, longtime colleagues and friends Natalia Rybka-Parkhomenko and Maria Oneshchak. The program took shape in the spring of 2020 during the global pandemic quarantine in one of the forests of Lviv region in western Ukraine, where the two women and their families took refuge together.
Since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mariia and Nataliia have performed versions of the work in Ukraine and in Europe as a duo, self-accompanied with hand percussion, Tibetan cymbals and bells, and a shruti box – a small Indian harmonium. With these performances in the U.S., Kurbasy is realizing the opportunity to fully produce this work visually and musically.
The program begins with Spring Songs — calls to awaken and renew life after the long winter — and includes ballads and love songs from Polissia, Bukovina, Poltava, Podillia, and Central Ukraine. Traditional recruit songs are sung, which highlight the war time situation in Ukraine today.
An affirmation in a time of war and resistance Kurbasy’s “Songs of the Ukrainian Forest” reveals contemporary connections to an archaic past.
TICKETS
Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors 62+ and subscribers, $10 for youth 18 and under, $10 for Bucknell employees and retirees (limit 2), free for Bucknell students (limit 1) and $10 for non-Bucknell students (limit 2).
Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-577-1000 or online at Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice.
Tickets are also available in person from several locations including the Weis Center lobby (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and the CAP Center Box Office, located on the ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
For more information about this event, contact Lisa Leighton, marketing and outreach director, at 570-577-3727 or by e-mail at lisa.leighton@bucknell.edu.
For more information about the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, go to Bucknell.edu/WeisCenter or search for the Weis Center on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.