"Is the master of this house home?" photos by Virlana Tkacz "I'll strike my palms till they ache... till the rusalki hear and depart"

Ensemble Hilka to perform
at Yara Arts Group’s Re-Imagine: Ourselves Festival

On January 28, 2012 at 8PM Ensemble Hilka will perform excerpts from its Chornobyl Song Project. A Year in Song. The programincludes ritual songs from the Chornobyl Region and projections by Yara’s director Virlana Tkacz and Mikhail Shraga, featuring photographs by Jim Krantz.

Ensemble Hilka singers include: Brian Dolphin, Cherrymae Golston, JR Hankins, Julian Kytasty, Julia Pivtorak, Eva Salina Primack, Ethel Raim, Wila Roberts, Maria Sonevytsky and Shelly Thomas. Last fall the group worked to develop the program with Dr Yevhen Yefremov, ethnomusicologist from Kyiv and founder of Drevo.

Also performing Saturday evening will be actors from Yara Arts Group presenting poetry, electronic music composer Alla Zagaykevych from Kyiv and New York’s Debutante Hour. The party afterwards includes food by chef Olesia Lew from Veselka Bowery. The festival also includes art and video exhibits, a program of poetry reading and performances on Friday, a Saturday afternoon workshop of traditional singing and a Sunday shadow puppet show appropriate for children 6 to 106.

All the events take place in a Fifth Avenue mansion that houses the Ukrainian Institute of America 2 East 79th St in Manhattan. (212) 288-8660. Tickets for Re-Imagine: Ourselves are available for each event at the door– Friday $15 Saturday $30, Sunday $10. Re-Imagine: Ourselves was made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Self-Reliance (NY) FCU and Coca Cola. e-mail yara.arts.group@gmail.com.