Kyiv Symphony and Chorus bringing its uplifting music to Yakima – Yakima Herald
Some 5,500 miles away, music is illuminating the soul — and it’s coming here to do the same.
The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 at First Presbyterian Church. This is the only city in Eastern Washington where the 96-member troupe is playing. The group is also performing in Seattle and Bellingham as well as in California, Oregon and Canada.
“They are spreading the Gospel through classical and gospel music,” said Pat Erickson, who is part of the committee sponsoring the visit.
It was not always so.
For the 70 years they were under Soviet domination, Ukranians were not allowed to sing religious songs, and music in churches was forbidden, according to Caroline Sundquist, another committee member. Sundquist explained that in 1992, a year after the Soviet Union dissolved, a symphony conductor from the United States visited Kyiv, Ukraine, to perform Handel’s “Messiah.” Roger McMurrin and his wife, Diane, immediately saw the potential for a ministry where sacred music had once been silenced.
They moved to the city the following year and formed a symphony and chorus with Ukranian musicians and vocalists. That, in turn, grew into a larger nonprofit, Music Mission Kyiv, which takes spiritual music to other countries and ministers to the needy in Ukraine.
Every few years, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus travels abroad to perform and raise money for its ministry projects.
The group played in Yakima four years ago. Earl Carpenter helped coordinate that visit to his church, West Valley Church of the Nazarene, and was duly impressed.
“They are phenomenal musicians,” he said.
Carpenter is also helping with the effort to bring the group here this year. Representatives from several other churches, including St. Timothy’s Episcopal, Central Lutheran and Englewood Christian as well as First Presbyterian, are serving on the steering committee.
Greg Jones, who attends First Presbyterian, is particularly looking forward to the September performance. His maternal grandparents, the Deschlevys, emigrated from Ukraine to North Dakota before he was born.
“I’ve always had a heart for that region,” he said.
Jones and his wife, Lin, traveled to Ukraine eight years ago as part of a nondenominational mission to build a Baptist church in the countryside. The Joneses discovered firsthand that religious activity in the country had been severely curtailed during the Soviet years.
“Communism is not down with religion,” Jones noted.
The couple was also struck by how many people struggled in poverty and how few resources had been devoted to Ukraine’s infrastructure during the Soviet years.
Erickson came away with the same impression. She and her husband, Fred, visited Kyiv last year.
“When the (Soviet) government fell, all these people were left with no pensions and their life savings were worthless. Everything was dilapidated, buildings were falling apart.”
The Ericksons traveled to Ukraine to visit Music Mission Kyiv and help with some of the work the organization is doing there. In addition to forming an orchestra and chorus, the mission developed programs to help widows and the elderly with food and medical support, and established a church. Another major thrust has been aiding orphans with meals, classes and enrichment programs.
Erickson said the mission’s work is impressive considering that the concept of reaching out to others had virtually disappeared in the country.
“The whole idea of people helping other people was trained out of them by the Russians,” she said.
Those programs are another reason the symphony and chorus travel abroad. “This concert series is not only to support the musicians,” Jones explained. “It also supports widows and orphans.”
It costs $7,000 to bring the concert to Yakima, so the volunteer organizers have been raising money around town. An offering will be taken at the concert, which goes to the mission’s outreach programs.
McMurrin has retired from conducting the symphony, but he and his wife remain active in the mission. Wes Janzen, interim director of the mission, will be conducting in Yakima.
Erickson said the performance will be uplifting as well as informative.
“You won’t just get a program, and then they’ll play music. You’ll get a story of why they’re in Ukraine, and they’ll also point out the Scripture a song is based on.”
Carpenter concurred: “There’s a lot of Ukrainian culture and folklore woven into the performance — dancing and costumes — you get a good flavor of their country.”
Sundquist, who has sung classical music in First Presbyterian choirs since her early teens, is looking forward to the performances as well as meeting the performers and hosting several of them in her home. She said she’s discovered from travels with her husband, Craig, to other countries that cultural exchanges are enlightening.
“Learning about other cultures really changes your life,” she said. “It gives you the opportunity to get different glimpses of the world.”
If you go
WHAT: Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus free concert.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sept. 22.
WHERE: First Presbyterian Church, 9 S. Eighth Ave.
TICKETS: Available at the door. No cost.
MORE INFO: http://www.musicmissionkyiv.org.