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Text Box: Above Alexandra Baczynskyj as Death below Lemon Bucket Orkestra in Yara’s Midwinter Night Photos by K.Kava

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Text Box: the Koliadnyky returned to the stage. They launched into a spectacular “Arkan.” The Lemon Bucket Orkestra followed with the rousing koliada “Rai Rozvyuvsia.”As the last notes from that piece hung in the air, Ms. Ilana performed “Kondzha Mia” (Flower of Mine), a traditional Sephardic song. Mr. Marczyk on violin added to her voice filled with emotion. A razor slice of white light cutting the floor of the blacked out stage provided the dramatic entry for Inka Juslin as she danced “Awakening.” Then Led by the Koliadnyky, the ensemble sang “Teche Richka.” For the finale, the Lemon Bucket Orkestra started playing a dance tune. As the beat became more invigorating and the music more urgent, the house lights slowly came up. Dancing ensemble members began walking into the audience, bringing attendees on stage to dance with them. At the same time, some of the musicians went up into the seats to play among the now clapping audience. The piece ended with the whole theater becoming a huge sea of exuberant playing, singing and dancing, the audience now a physical part of the performance. Ihor Slabicky, Ukrainian Weekly

Text Box: encounter with Herod, portrayed by Ostap Kostyuk as arrogant and out of touch with the people. With the Wise Men not returning, Herod sought out his soothsayer, played by Mariko Pajalahti, to discern what had taken place. She whirled around, dragging the end of her long staff on the ground, which produced a dry rattling sound as she conjured up a vision to answer his question. Mykola Zelenchuk, as Herod’s soldier, executed all commands without question or emotion. Having lost her child, Rachel, played by Natalia Okolita, condemned Herod to eternal damnation. Tamar Ilana, as Time, danced the flamenco, her flashing steps rapidly counting off the remainder of Herod’s days. The entrance of Death, played by Alexandra Baczynskyj, was perfect – not too dramatic and not too dark. Death came in the door and calmly claimed her Herod, despite his pleas and cries that he was not ready. Mark Marczyk, as the Devil, fiddled the final notes of Herod’s life, and Death exited, cradling a skull capped with his crown. Paul Brantley, on cello, played his work “Arbor,” providing a contemplative transition from the drama that had just been played out.
The third act, “Celebration”, started off with a “baa-a-a-a!” as the Koza (goat) peeked out from behind a curtain. Based in Toronto, the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, with Stephania Woloshyn as the Koza, presented a slightly updated version of the traditional Koza dance. Playing the tsymbaly, violin, flute, drum and cymbal of the troista musicians,

Text Box: Here’s one more review of Yara’s Midwinter Night at La MaMa last December:
With the performance space in complete darkness, the huge disc deep in stage left glowing a silvery white reminded one of a full moon. Musical notes twinkled like stars and then a breeze, a breath, was heard. The lights slowly went up, revealing the Sun, portrayed by Marika Kuzma. Seated to the side was Julian Kytasty, providing the astral aurals on his bandura. As she sang “Poduy zhe Hospody,” the opening lines of the age-old Creation Song, her voice was joined by those of Alina Kuzma as the Moon and Teryn Kuzma as the Stars.
These opening scenes greeted audiences attending the four sold-out performances of Midwinter Night: Sacred and Profane Rituals. Watching these scenes unfold, one felt drawn in to them, compelled to become one with them, spiritually and emotionally joining the three perfectly matched voices as they created the world and the heavens from the golden sands brought up from bottom of the endless sea.
The sound of Mykola Ilyuk on the fiddle announced the entrance of the Koliadnyky from Kryvorivnia. Led by Ivan Zelenchuk, they sang “Grechna Gazdynya, VynoSadyla.”
“Vertep,” the second act, began with original 18th century choral music wonderfully arranged by Mr. Kytasty, the musical director for Midwinter Night. The scene shifted to the arrival of the Three Wise Men (Ivan Zelenchuk, Rob Teehan and Chris Weatherstone) and their