On December 10, Yevhen Savchuk celebrated his birthday. As always, whole delegations came to congratulate him. It is his pupils and teachers at the National Music Academy, former colleagues in the Musical Comedy Theater, Veriovka Choir, and Revutsky Choir he has worked with in recent years, as well as various friends and lovers of chamber and folk singing. For over a decade and a half the destiny of this People’s Artist of Ukraine and Shevchenko Prize laureate has been interwoven with Ukraine’s National Meritorious Dumka Academic Choir. The renowned and respected body has had its ups and downs. The artistic director tells about the present-day matters and plans for the near future.
“Mr. Savchuk, the Dumka Choir has been in existence for eighty years. Some think that performing groups experience crisis in twenty years, that they need new blood. What periods were for you the most difficult?”
“In general, cycles are characteristic of any creative activity. And every five to seven years we also reach a certain limit. Then we make fundamental decisions. This concerns both revising our repertoire and our team. Creative longevity resides with them, and they are always in search of something new. For me personally, the most difficult time was when I joined the choir. An issue arose of reorganizing it, revising its repertoire, and restructuring it organizationally. Much of our energy was also taken up by the interference of Party activists. Now we have a body of people who think alike. Each can have his or her own political sympathies and principles, but such differences must not relate to the most important thing, creative work.”
“Who is the most senior member of your choir, and have you had any stars? “
“Our most senior singer is Meritorious Singer of Ukraine Ihor Babych. He was working when Pavlo Muravsky, Mykhailo Krychkov and Viktor Ikonnyk were Dumka’s artistic managers. I would call him a coryphaeus, a grandmaster of the stage. We have many gifted young people. Currently, only a few members of our group do not have a higher musical education. I think, that in addition to strong voice, singers should have good professional training and high intellectual level. We employ, based on auditions, graduates from conductors’, choir, and vocal departments of the conservatory and Institute of Culture. Working with professionals is always easy and pleasant. For example, Alla Horobchenko, I would say, grew as a singer in our collective, and she has great creative potential. Now she is a Meritorious Artiste of Ukraine and sings leads in our repertoire.”
“Today is not really the best time for large academic bodies. What helps support the choir at a high artistic level?”
“In fact, large bodies require more means to maintain them. We receive from the government no additional injections for living. The extensive concert activity, which was customary under Soviet rule, stopped long ago. Now everybody counts their pennies. Going on tour involves transportation, hotels, hiring a concert hall, and paying the performers. Thus, we go on tour only by invitation. This year, we are under contract to perform Ivan Karabytsa’s cantata The Garden of Divine Songs (lyrics by Hryhory Skovoroda). This concert will be in the Lysenko Hall of Columns on March 26. In May, we are going to Odesa, to present our new program jointly with the Odesa Symphony Orchestra. And in September, we will sing together with the National Symphony Orchestra The Lay of the Host of Ihor, an oratorio by Yevhen Stankovych.
“But we cannot cut staff. Because there are many works written for a corresponding cast of vocalists. And it is precisely such works that form the basis of the choir’s repertoire.
“The most essential support to us is provided, without doubt, by foreign tours. We solve two problems this way: on the one hand, we promote Ukrainian culture, and on the other, we financially help the choir. In 1999, we traveled abroad six times. And each time we were given a warm welcome by the public and favorable reviews in the press and got new proposals to go on tour.”
“Recently you returned from Denmark and the Netherlands. How was it?”
“In Denmark we took part in the 2000 New Year festival. The concert began at ten o’clock in the morning and lasted until one at night. The great exhibition hall in the town of Fredericia gathered over 3,000. The tickets were expensive, $100 apiece, money was raised for UNICEF. The Polish Symphony Orchestra, vocalists from Germany, and Danish artists performed together with our choir.
“In Holland, we gave six concerts of Verdi’s Requiem in Leiden, the Hague, Utrecht, Leeuwarden, and Amsterdam. We performed with a Slovak orchestra, and Italian singers soloed soprano and tenor, Alla Horobchenko, mezzo-soprano, and Taras Shtonda (Ukraine), bass, while Canadian Dwight Bennett was at the conductor’s stand. Thus, we got an international team. With the last chord fading, the spectators gave us a long standing ovation.”
“In late February your troupe is again going on a concert tour abroad. What kind will it be?”
“On February 28 we will perform the Requiem in the film festivals hall in Cannes. This work by Verdi is very popular in Europe. And as soon as March 1 we will sing in Toulon a cappella Ukrainian music, and, accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, an excerpt from Aleksandr Borodin’s opera Prince Igor, the “Polovetsian Dances.” Fedir Hlushchenko will be the conductor. Then we will perform in Poland. We will play Ukrainian music there, 18 waltzes by Brahms and, together with composer Krzysztof Penderecki, his Credo. The Polish Symphony Orchestra will accompany us. We also already have received invitations from Palermo, Amsterdam, Paris, and Hamburg. As you see, we are not resting on our laurels.”
“The post of artistic director takes strong character. Who do you think you are: a tyrant or a liberal?”
“I can think of myself in one way, but my colleagues see it otherwise. I think all methods are possible in your work; the carrot and stick always go together.”
