In May 2022 the UCVP was fortunate to join the faculty and students at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, California. In light of Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the student body decided to dedicate their end of year showcase to Ukrainian art songs set to poems by a Ukrainian freedom fighter Taras Shevchenko, the founder of the revolutionary democratic trend in the history of Ukrainian social thought.
In preparation for the recital, our founder Irina Petrik worked with the students via Zoom, offering individual and group coachings on Ukrainian diction, pronunciation and dramatic expression. The students led by their extraordinary music director and social activist Dr. Joanne Choe participated in lively and meaningful discussions exploring such key subjects as cultural appropriation in music, the importance of bringing attention to the concepts of privilege, equity, creative freedom and inclusion.
In their final performance the young singers successfully demonstrated proficiency in Ukrainian diction, while singing solos, duets and choral pieces by Mykola Lysenko, Yakiv Stepov, Hordiy Hladky, Dmytro Kryzhanivsky and Borys Lyatoshynsky. Driven by a genuine wish to assist Ukraine in its time of crisis, the Rio Hondo students diligently prepared and passionately rendered the National Anthem of Ukraine.