Shevchenko Lives in Word
and Song of both Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian Youth in NYC
On Friday, March 13, students from St.
George Ukrainian Catholic Elementary School and Academy in
The School Auditorium was
filled with the entire student body, faculty, administration, parents and their
guests, and the parish pastor, who blessed the in-depth and broad program with
a prayer. Shevchenko’s most notable
works were performed including; “I Mertvym, I Zhyvym,” “Prychyna (Reve ta
Stohne)”, “Dumy Moyi”, “Sadok Vyshneviy”, “Taras’s Night”, and many others,
carefully choreographed with a plethora of styles including choral singing, a
bandura ensemble of Grades 3 and 4 students, a violin solo, vocal solos, poetry
recitations, and a theatrical presentation on Shevchenko’s dramatic life
including full sets and staging.
A notable difference
between this program and other Shevchenko programs was the intertwining of both
the Ukrainian and English languages, including the words of the poet
himself. The student participants were
of varying backgrounds including Ukrainians of the most recent immigration,
those of Ukrainian descent born in the Diaspora, and many non-Ukrainians
of mixed races and origins including Hispanic, African-American, Italian,
Irish, and Arabic. This diversity of
performers contributed to the backdrop of international unity and harmony
seldom seen at the United Nations on 1st Avenue and 45th
Street, but taking place at the school right on Taras Shevchenko Place in New
York City, the street that honours Ukraine’s great poet.
Upon completion of the
program, all the guests and performers joined in the singing of Shevchenko’s Testament
(Zapovit), concluding with the verse:
“and me within my large family,
a family free and renewed,
do not forget to remember me,
with kind and quiet words.”
Even the prophetic Taras
Shevchenko could not have envisioned the large and diverse family that would
honour him so many years later at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Schools in
St. George
Foundation, Secretary