By Susan Paynter
Emmanuel served as venue on Friday evening, January 7, when Ukrainian Violinist Oleksandra Vydria headlined the first concert of the Chatham Concert Series’ 2011 season. Accompanied by native Virginian Brenda Wittwer on the piano, Vydria played to a full house.
Winner of Ukrainian national and international violin awards and a former member of the Viva Vivaldi Chamber Orchestra, Vydria also proved to be an effective cultural ambassador for her native Ukraine.
The evening began with sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart, and a J.S. Bach partita. Following intermission, 12-year-old violinist Julian Ayers of Basset joined the program as the evening’s promising young musician. Ayers played Monti’s lovely Csardas. Ms. Vydria then returned, having changed from her evening gown of red and black lace (think “Carmen”) into Ukrainian folk garb.
The audience was charmed by Vydria’s demonstration of Ukrainian folk dance and tidbits of information she shared about her country. By coincidence, the concert fell on the night of Orthodox Ukraine’s Christmas; and Vydria, though not a professional singer, sang the familiar Christmas carol, “Carol of the Bells” also known as “Ring Christmas Bells,” by Mykola Leontovych, in its original Ukrainian. We learned how to tell a single from a married Ukrainian woman by the way she wears her scarf, and that the first successful helicopter was invented by a Ukrainian: Igor Sikorsky.
Returning to violin music, Vydria rounded out the program with six selections, including a folk piece, a contemporary piece by a personal friend, songs by Massenet, Stetsenko and Skyork, and this writer’s personal favorite for the violin, the beautiful and soulful Romance from Dmitri Shostakovich’s “The Gadfly” Suite.
Be sure to attend the series’ next concert on the afternoon of Sunday, February 13. Headlining will be Chatham’s favorite flutist Janet Phillips, back by popular demand and accompanied by Carmella Fisher on piano.