Spirit of resistance Ukrainian Canadian performers send message to besieged country: ‘We are one, and you are not alone’ By: Holly Harris Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2022

Opinion

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Among the millions who have been watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine in horror these last three weeks are many local musicians of proud Ukrainian heritage.

The Free Press recently asked eight well-known artists from the city’s rich Ukrainian community to share their feelings, hopes and fears for their ancestral homeland, and what the rising tide of global support means to them during times of trial.

Lida Szkwarek Opera singer/soprano

Born in Winnipeg, Lida Szkwarek marked her Manitoba Opera debut during its Sopranos of Winnipeg gala concert in November 2020, and has also performed with Edmonton Opera, Saskatoon Opera, the Guelph Symphony Orchestra and Niagara Symphony Orchestra, among others.

“It’s been incredibly devastating,” she says during a telephone interview. “It’s also surreal because you feel very disconnected from what’s going on, living peacefully here in Canada.” With family members “all over,” the singer still has relatives living in the same Ukrainian farmhouse that her “dido” — Ukrainian for grandfather — was born in.

“We never thought we’d ever see war like this again in Europe,” she says. “That’s been one of the hardest parts, knowing what my grandparents lived through and how that affected them for the rest of their lives. I can’t help but think how heartbroken they would be today.”

Her entire family — even her nine-year-old niece in Calgary, Mila, who is baking homemade dog treats for the cause — is heavily involved in fundraising efforts for Ukraine.

Szkwarek has a final message: “I have been incredibly proud of how courageous Ukraine has been in fighting, and standing up for its culture and traditions,” she says. “It gives me hope that we may get through this.

“However I also know, that no matter what Ukrainians go through, we’re never going to lose our culture. We will never cease to exist. That is something my grandparents taught me.”

 

Christopher Sklepowich Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus, BOARD Chairman/singer

Christopher Sklepowich, now in his 22nd year of singing second tenor with the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus, originally moved to the city from Dauphin to stay connected to Ukrainian music. He currently serves as chairman of the ensemble’s board of directors, and shares how the tightly knit group’s nearly 30 members have been faring these days.

“Each of us is dealing with all sorts of negative emotions — shock, anger, despair and a feeling of helplessness — but at the same time seeing how the Ukrainian community in Winnipeg, in Canada and around the world has joined in solidarity has also been very heartening,” he says.

Something else that buoyed the choristers’ spirits was performing both the Ukrainian and Canadian national anthems on March 2 at Canada Life Centre before puck drop at the Winnipeg Jets game. After the nearly five-minute video clip went viral on the internet, as well as being broadcast throughout Ukraine on its sole remaining TV channel, non-Ukrainian groups from around the world asked if they too could have a copy of the anthem’s sheet music to raise their voices in solidarity.

“Ukrainian music has stood the test of time and is extremely rich in symbolism,” Sklepowich says. “The guys have a renewed sense of purpose, or passion for singing these songs as an expression of art. It’s like we’re sending a message to the Russian government that it doesn’t matter what you do. Ukrainians will always prevail, Ukrainians will always survive, because we always have.”

 

Andriana Chuchman — opera singer/soprano

Winnipeg soprano Andriana Chuchman has enthralled audiences around the globe, including marking a dazzling debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore in 2014, where she replaced ailing Russian opera superstar Anna Netrebko on short notice. She has performed as featured guest artist during the HUMC’s 50th anniversary gala in December 2019, and will be showcased during the three Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Pops concerts My Favourite Things: The Best of Rodgers and Hammerstein this weekend.

“It’s been very emotional for me,” the artist admits over the phone. “We still have family in Ukraine, and it’s been terrifying when a peaceful sovereign country becomes invaded, which makes it even more personal. We feel helpless being so far away, and have been doing what we can from here, offering support to families and trying to donate as much as possible.”

Chuchman’s latest role is that of loving mother to her 11-month-year old baby boy shared with husband Adam Hildebrandt; she says parenthood has given her an entirely new perspective on life. She has been utterly horrified by Russian bombs falling on the most vulnerable, including cancer clinics, schools and hospital maternity wards.

“It’s been revolting. It’s disgusting to see things like that. There really are no words but the sheer brutality of it has been absolutely shocking,” says Chuchman, who first cut her singing teeth at Winnipeg’s Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral, and has relatives living in mostly western Ukraine, with some of them having already fled to Poland. She recalls visiting Ukraine herself as a teenager with her sister Olesia and father.

“We went to all the little villages where my family is from,” she says. “My sister travelled with her guitar and we would have these amazing sing-alongs. Making music together can be very powerful during times of tragedy. It helps us forget the horrors that are happening around us. We need that now more than ever, as it gives voice to our emotions.”

 

Simeon Rusnak — Classic 107 FM radio host/broadcaster; Hoosli Male Ukrainian Chorus assistant conductor

“There’s no denying it’s been a tragic and heartbreaking time,” Simeon Rusnak says. “However, it has also been not without its moments of marvel, including seeing civilians standing in front of a Russian tank, or even jumping on top of it waving a Ukrainian flag. These acts are the truest sense of what patriotism is all about, and extend even beyond the border of Ukraine.”

The defiant spirit of Ukrainians defending their homeland does not surprise Rusnak, who keeps in close touch with his extended family throughout Ukraine via social media, as well as his wife’s family members.

“Historically, Ukraine has always been a contested land, going back thousands of years. That spirit of resistance has always been there and the last few weeks have really crystallized it for many people,” he says. “It’s been very, very moving and quite powerful.”

 

Miroslava Paches — O. Koshetz Choir, artistic director

A graduate of the Lviv State Music Academy, since June 2007, Miroslava Paches has served as artistic director of the O. Koshetz Choir, which continues to serve as a cultural ambassador with its stirring performances of Ukrainian folk, ritualistic, liturgical and classical music. She also leads the children’s and adult choirs at Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral, composes new works and teaches privately.

“It’s beyond comprehension and everybody is in shock,” says Paches, who still has family members living in western Ukraine. “One day you’re living in a peaceful, beautiful home that you’ve built for your children, and the next day everything is destroyed. It’s been extremely difficult to wrap the mind and soul around that.”

Paches, a mother of four who first came to Canada as a nanny for her aunt in 1996, just as an independent Ukraine was beginning to stretch its wings, attests to the solace music can provide during times of strife.

“I’m a strong believer that we all carry music in our hearts, from the beginning of our lives to the end, and that music gives us healing, joy, connection. It also gives hope, because it’s so easy to lose hope,” she says. “With God’s help, Ukraine will rebuild. We will live, and we will be happy.”

 

Lara Ciekiewicz — opera singer/soprano

Internationally renowned opera singer Lara Ciekiewicz, who has garnered critical acclaim for her principal roles for Manitoba Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton Opera, as well as performances with the Victoria Symphony and the WSO, has always worn her Ukrainian Canadian roots proudly on her sleeve.

The Winnipeg-born singer, who has three grandparents of Ukrainian heritage, speaks of the power of art and music to connect people beyond perceived boundaries, as a “direct expression of the heart and soul,” that forges “empathy and connection, even where there seems to be little.”

“In difficult times, it seems fitting that we somehow turn to these expressions as a way to make sense of the incomprehensible — a reminder of our shared humanness, and that, for all our differences, we are more alike than not,” she says via email, adding her own thoughts about the extraordinary resistance by the Ukrainian people:

“When a cultural foundation and heritage has been so dearly won, I think it engenders a strength that allows people to come together and be even more powerful as a whole than they were as individuals.”

 

Andriy Michalchyshyn — singer/lead songwriter for Zrada

Andriy Michalchyshyn leads local ethno-fusion “folk punk” band Zrada, whose lyrics are all written — and sung — by its six members in Ukrainian.

“This band came out of a tradition of Ukrainian bands in Canada that typically play polkas, folks tunes, at weddings and socials,” the musician says over the phone. “We wanted to do something more contemporary that reflects modern Ukraine.”

The band is currently gearing up to perform alongside other Manitoban artists including fiddler Sierra Noble, Sofia Bilozor and Jorge Requena during the “Evening for Peace,” billed as a Ukrainian Humanitarian Benefit Concert being held Friday at 8 p.m at the Park Theatre, with all proceeds going to the Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis Appeal.

A second community fundraiser, Stand with Ukraine, will be held April 3, with two concerts featuring the HUMC, O. Koshetz Ukrainian Choir, Lyra, Sopilka Performing Ensemble, Zoloto, Rusalka, Romanetz, Vitretz Ukrainian dance ensembles, and Selo Ukrainian Dancers at the Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre, 3 p.m. (sold out) and 7 p.m.

Michalchyshyn admits the band is frequently asked to perform in English, which he resolutely resists, and even more so since the Russian invasion began in earnest this month.

“There’s now no question of ever singing in this band in anything other than Ukrainian,” he says. “We’ve realized that this band has become a vessel for getting across the beauty of this language, and the everlasting quality and nobility of this language. We have to keep doing this because it’s very important that people hear this language, and it will last forever, with or without us.”

 

Myron Kurjewicz — accordionist

A retired pharmacist who worked on Selkirk Avenue for 32 years, accordionist Myron Kurjewicz has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet — that was him onstage during its ooh-la-la production of Moulin Rouge — and the long-defunct CBC Orchestra, among others, as well as having played at a mind-boggling number of weddings, socials, festivals and cultural events over the last 60 years.

“It’s such a whirlwind of emotion,” the musician says of the current situation. “For many of us there are tears in our hearts to see what is happening to the land of our ancestors, with so much that has been destroyed.”

Kurjewicz is also deeply concerned for the refugees, now numbering 2.7 million and rising every hour, with most of those being women and children.

“We’re all human beings, and for something like this to happen for one human being doing something like this to another human being, it’s just so wrong,” he says, wishing to add a message for the millions fleeing their homeland:

“We are one and you are not alone,” he says. “We are connected through our traditional music, culture, and food, and somehow, together we will get out of this. We’re wrestling with our todays but hopefully our tomorrows will be better.

“Music is so powerful and sometimes the old is new again. The traditional songs connect us with our heritage, our ancestors and everything that comes with that. It’s good for our soul, and sometimes when you’re playing a certain song, your eyes well up a little bit, because in that moment you are somewhere else.”

Holly.harris@shaw.ca