A Kyivite who will not forget her Fatherland

It is not so easy anymore to impress the public with drama performances and concerts. In the artistic world, the National Operetta has defined its own format of the event which the audience has been looking forward to for four years on end. It is an international festival of operetta, opera, and musical, O-Fest. The renowned opera singer Iryna PETRYK, an American with Ukrainian heritage, was one of the guests at the forum.

“I travel a lot across America and to other countries, yet O-Fest is one of the best modern artistic events dedicated to the genres of operetta, opera, and musical. This cultural project knows no counterparts. I am delighted by the theater’s artistic director Bohdan Strutynsky. It was in Kyiv, at the National Operetta Theater of Ukraine that I for the first time witnessed cultural diplomacy in action. It is extremely efficient,” remarked Petryk.

Could you tell about the production of A Zaporozhian Beyond the Danube in New York?

“When we staged the opera A Zaporozhian Beyond the Danube by Hulak-Artemovsky in the US, my first and foremost task was to show to the American public that we, Ukrainians, are a nation with a rich culture, steadfast and beautiful traditions, a nation of talented, generous, and hospitable people. Ukrainians are hardworking and very open people, and this is what we have in common with Americans. In 2014, at a TV station in Albany, the capital of New York State, I was asked to comment on the events in my home city, on Maidan in Kyiv. I decided to deliver a project which would prove to Americans that Ukraine means hospitability and frankness. We named the opera A Cossack Beyond the Danube, to make it easier for the American public to understand who Zaporozhians are.

“The premiere was a huge success, an outburst of positive emotions! Among the viewers were representatives of the diaspora, television journalists, and US mass media. The Ukrainian Weekly (America’s largest Ukrainian-speaking periodical) wrote then that ‘over the recent time, the staging of A Cossack Beyond the Danube was the brightest event in artistic life.’ The opera, commissioned by Commonwealth Lyric Opera, premiered at the New York University, and the orchestra was led by young conductor Lidia Yankovska. Adam Klein, soloist of the Metropolitan Opera, appeared as Andrii, I sang Odarka, while my husband Kevin Kees played Karas. We translated all the dialogs in the opera into English sticking to the country style, well-known and much loved by the American public. The spectators’ laughter was sincere, the performance was very intimate and clear, although we did not depart from the classical interpretation and only added a couple of bright accents. Thanks to the promotion of our production by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the Ukrainian Federal Credit Union, and the Ukraine-America Cultural Center in Watervliet, New York, the project was much spoken about. The unique children’s dance group Zorepad from the Capital District School of Ukrainian Studies (where I used to teach vocal art) deserves individual thanks. The young dancers with their matchless hopak and kolomyika on quite a professional level became real stars of the show. The directors of the group, a talented couple Petro and Adriana Fil, the president of the group Lilia Kulbida, all of them are heirs to Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky, the star of Ukrainian ballet in New York.”

Your family appeared thanks to stage. This is a romantic love story of two successful opera artists. How did you come to know each other?

“We met in Boston, during the production of The Snow Maiden by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov at the Harvard University, Lowell House Opera. I was through the audition and certain that because of my fluent Russian and a soprano voice, the part of the Snow Maiden had to be mine. Later I learned that the auditions lasted five days… There were two casts, and I was in one with Kevin Kees, a baritone, who sang Mizgir. When we met we both realized that it is hard for artists to be together because of contracts, tours, and the entire life on the road, in telephone talks. But there were sparks between us. Our colleagues joked that The Snow Maiden was quite interesting, yet to see the real show one had to come to my and Kevin’s rehearsals. At first, he irritated me terribly, but he was so entertaining at the same time.

“As an acting couple, we are often invited to appear in numerous opera performances together. Besides the Snow Maiden and Mizgir, Odarka and Karas, we have sung Marcello and Musetta from Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme (where we virtually played ourselves) at Hubbard Hall Opera, as well as Lilli and Fred in Kiss Me, Kate at the Harpa National Concert Hall in Reykjavik together with Opera Skagafjordur. It happened so that we met each other singing in an opera about a snow maiden, and got engaged in Iceland, the land of snows and ice. We have been together for five years already and married last year at Lake George. My husband supports my desire to speak and sing in Ukrainian, he is enthralled with getting to know Ukrainian culture and respects it. Despite his intensive artistic career, he finds time to help implement Ukrainian projects, and I am very grateful to him.”

Many artists today dream of moving abroad. You studied in the US, and now you have come to sing in Ukraine.

“I studied at the San Francisco Conservatory (many thanks to my teacher Pamela Fry, head of the vocal chair, and Doris Yarick-Cross, head of the voice and opera department at the Yale University), but I got my first training in Ukraine. I was spotted and promoted by Tamara Koval, teacher of voice at the Kyiv Reinhold Gliere Institute of Music, and to her I will be grateful all my life.”

Do you also teach?

“Yes, recently I earned the professor in voice, and I am teaching at the College of Saint Rose in New York. Also I work as a director at the children’s theatre in Saratoga Springs and have my own private studio where I teach children to sing and play the piano.”

Could you tell about your acquaintance with the Ukrainian diaspora in America?

“When I just moved to New York from California, I began working at the Capital District School of Ukrainian Studies created by the Ukrainian diaspora, where I taught music and prepared children’s Christmas and Easter concerts. From the moment of my acquaintance with the diaspora I had a strong desire to speak Ukrainian. I was inspired by these people who preserve and respect the language, traditions, and cultural heritage of our nation. Thousands of miles away from Ukraine, Americans of Ukrainian origin strive for positive change in our country, they are inspired by the idea of a beautiful future for Ukraine. I am very proud of being part and parcel of this unique community.”

What is your artistic season going to look like?

“In the US artists are planning their schedule a season ahead, so I have already got my touring calendar. First I will be singing with the New York Orchestra in the Midsummer Night’s Dream. Then I will be preparing the part of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro in Atlanta, after which I will be singing Tatyana (my first) in Eugene Onegin with the Syracuse Opera. Further, I have a couple of contracts in the US in the stage of confirmation. I passionately hope that I will have another opportunity to come to Ukraine and sing in my Fatherland.”