* Krasnoyarsk City Children’s Choir from Siberia in Russia.
* Barvinochok dancers from the Ukraine.
UKRAINIAN and Russian performers heading for this summer’s
Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod say the current political rift
between their two countries won’t stop them enjoying the big annual festival.
Despite international tensions running high after Russia
moved into the Crimea, leaders of the Barvinochok folk dance group from the
Ukrainian capital of Kiev and the Krasnoyarsk City Children’s Choir from
Siberia in Russia have both confirmed their attendance at the Eisteddfod, which
runs from July 8-13, and both have said how much they are looking forward to
it.
Eisteddfod chairman Gethin Davies stressed the spirit of
international peace and co-operation on which the Eisteddfod was founded in
1947 and promised there would be an equally warm welcome for the Ukrainians and
the Russians.
The Barvinochok folk dance group was founded in 1976 and
today has over 500 children and young people aged from three to 23 in its
ranks.
Barvinochok have been to Llangollen before, in 2009 when
they won a certificate of merit for taking second place to a group from
Slovakia in the choreographed folk dance competition.
Speaking from her home in Kiev one of Barvinochok’s leaders,
Okasana Cherkas, said: “Despite what is happening on the political front at the
moment we are going to take part in the Llangollen festival this summer as
planned.
“Our big hope at the moment is that there will be peace in
our country by that time.
“Members of our group have not been personally affected by
what has been happening, although we did all see the recent demonstrations
going on in our own city of Kiev, which were of course of concern to us.
“We will be bringing about 40 members of the group with us
to Llangollen and are looking forward very much to performing there.”
The Russian performers coming to Llangollen are members of
the City Children’s Choir from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk who will be
making their debut in the festival.
From her home in Krasnoyarsk, which she explained is in the
very centre of Russia on the border between Europe and Asia, choir founder and
chief conductor Ludmilla Stebenkova said: “We are certainly going to take part
in this year’s festival and are looking forward to competing in Llangollen for
the first time.
“The current political situation certainly won’t stop us
coming.
“I know there will be a group from the Ukraine also at the
festival but I think everything will be fine with us and them. There is no
problem between people only between the authorities.
“Llangollen is all about international co-operation and
peace, and in that way is very much like the Olympic Games.”
Eisteddfod chairman Gethin Davies said: “The whole ethos of
our festival is about creating harmony between different nations and helping to
heal wounds.
“The festival certainly has nothing to do with politics and
is a way of bringing people together regardless of their politics or ethnic
background.
“Both these groups, from the Ukraine and Russia, will be
very welcome at Llangollen. When they get on stage here everyone is equal.”
Barvinochok are due to make two appearances at the festival,
in the Cultural Showcase competition on Wednesday, July 9, and in the
Children’s Folk Dance Group on the Thursday.
Dance styles the group specialises in include classical,
traditional Ukrainian, modern and global culture and more than 100 of its
graduates have so far graduated to become professional ballet dancers in the
Ukraine and abroad.
Over the years Barvinochok has received recognition and won
awards at a host of international festivals and competitions in countries such
as Russia, Hungary, Germany, Greece, France, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Cuba.
The City Children’s Choir are bringing a 46-strong ensemble,
who will be accompanied by six adults, and they will be competing in two
competitions, the Senior Children’s Choir and Children’s Folk Song Choir, both
on Wednesday.
Founded in the 1970s, the choir regularly tours the Russia,
the Czech Republic, Mongolia,Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine. It has
also visited the USA as part of a project called Friendship Ambassadors and
co-operates with the Krasnoyarsk State Academic Symphony Orchestra.
Ludmilla said the aim of the choir was to unite children of
their own city through singing and their wide repertoire includes sacred and
secular music by Russian and foreign classical composers, and Russian folk
songs.
Meanwhile, the curtain raiser for this year's Eisteddfod
will mark the return of opera superstar Bryn Terfel to Llangollen.
The acclaimed bass baritone will be playing the lead in a
special English-language production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street featuring an all-Welsh cast.
This year's will also feature concerts by Dutch jazz
sensation Caro Emerald and veteran British rockers Status Quo as well as a
world premiere of a new work, Adiemus Colores, by top composer Karl Jenkins.
He will conduct his Latin American themed work with American
tenor Noah Stewart, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores and Latvian accordion
player Ksenija Sidorova to the accompaniment of the Llangollen International
Eisteddfod Orchestra.
The Friday night concert, Spirit of Unity, will feature the
Cape Town Opera, Africa’s premiere opera company, famed for their "vibrant
vocalism and high-octane stage performances".
Appearing with them will be Wales’ representative in Cardiff
Singer of the World, Gary Griffiths, the Wales Millennium Centre Only Kidz
Aloud Chorus under the baton of celebrity conductor Tim Rhys Evans and British
Sinfonietta, one of the UK's leading independent professional orchestras.
The Choir of the World competition for the Pavarotti Trophy
on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival which
will close with a Sunday night concert by Status Quo.
