MIDWINTER NIGHT (2012-2013)
Sacred & Profane Rituals, World Music Theatre piece with: traditional Carpathian winter songs, a Baroque Folk Nativity Play & Carnivalesque Goat Songs
created by Yara Arts Group, directed by Virlana Tkacz
set & lights by Watoku Ueno, costumes: Keiko Obremski
music Julian Kytasty, script assembled by Virlana Tkacz
projections: Mikhail Shraga & Waldemart Klyuzko
with: Koliada singers from the Carpathians: Mykola Ilyuk, Ostap Kostyuk, Vasyl Tymchuk, Ivan & Mykola Zelenchuk
featuring Yara artists: Paul Brantley, Brian Dolphin, Inka Juslin, Alina Kuzma, Marika Kuzma, Teryn Kuzma, Natalia Okolita & Mariko Pajalahti
Lemon Bucket Orkestra: Alexandra Baczynskyj, Marichka Galazda, Tamar Ilana, Michael Louis Johnson, Mark Marczyk, Alex Nahirny, Mike Romaniak, Karl Silvera, Jaash Singh, Emily Stam, Rob Teehan, Christopher Weatherstone, John David Williams & Stephanie Woloshyn
premiere at La MaMa 12/12
Toronto: Habourfront Center 12/13
related Koliada 2012 events:
The Ukrainian Museum | photos
Phtotos from Ukrainian League in Philadelphia | Barbes and WFMU
"Photo Patterns" by Volodymyr Klyuzko at La MaMa Galleria
2013 Yara's Midwinter Night in Toronto's Harbourfront Center| photos from theatre piece | photos from Toronto Koliada events | photos from Koliada Concert
PRESS
There is so much amazing material presented here, starting with old winter songs (published 1693) which must be sung to insure the coming of the harvest. Next comes the enactment of a Ukrainian nativity puppet play from 1774. The conclusion has goat songs--where the goat goes, the grain grows--backed up by the high-energy Lemon Bucket Orkestra under the direction of Mark Marczyk. Projections by Mikhail Shraga and Volodymyr Klyuzko add yet another spiritual dimension to the spectacle. I look forward to the next offering from Yara Arts Group, which promises to innovatively blend old and new.
Ed Malin, nytheatre.com December 28, 2012.
This time Virlana Tkacz’s directing masterfully exceeded all her previous work. She seamlessly connected that which usually can’t be connected: epochs, languages, culture, and people… Her connections were so deep and far-reaching that they resulted in an opera which ends today in a real time and a real place…You have to be there and be a participant in the action. This exactly happens in the final scene -- the boundaries between the stage and the audience are erased.
Kateryna Kindras, Nova Hazeta, January 2, 2013.
Watching these scenes unfold, one felt drawn in to them, compelled to become one with them, spiritually and emotionally
Ihor Slabicky, Ukrainian Weekly March 10, 2013
