Leonid Skirko
Encyclopedia
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer of Ukrainian origin.
Biography and Career
He was born in LozovaLozova
Lozova or Lozovaya is a city in the Kharkiv Oblast of eastern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Lozivsky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is an important railroad junction in the oblast.The current estimated population is...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
to Marta (ne Havrysh), and to Mykola Skirko. The family fled both German and Russian occupation by crossing Ukraine to the relative safety of German Refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
s. From 1945 to 1949, the Skirkos waited in a German Displaced persons camp
Displaced persons camp
A displaced persons camp or DP camp is a temporary facility for displaced persons coerced into forced migration. The term is mainly used for camps established after World War II in West Germany and in Austria, as well as in the United Kingdom, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the...
in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
for the opportunity to immigrate to another country. From 1949 to 1955 the family lived in San Paolo
San Paolo
San Paolo is a comune in the Province of Brescia, in the Italian region Lombardy....
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Leonid's passion for music was stirred up by attending Orthodox liturgy with his beloved babushka (grandmother), and singing in church choirs from the age of 9. Leonid was 15 when he arrived in Canada in 1955 with this family.
Early period
From the age of 17 on, he took singing lessons and coaching from Maestro Hryhorij Shwedchenko, the internationally famous tenor of the Kiev OperaKiev Opera
The Kiev Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. Today, the Kiev Opera Company performs at the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kiev....
in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and later, from Professor Kazymyr Oleshkevych, a former conductor in the Kiev Opera
Kiev Opera
The Kiev Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. Today, the Kiev Opera Company performs at the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kiev....
. From the years of 1955 to 1969 Leonid took up his high school and university studies, and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
in 1964. In his spare time, he had the rich experiences of singing opera with the McMaster Operatic Society under the direction of Lee Heppner and later, the Hamilton Opera.
Kiwanis Music Festival
The Kiwanis Music Festival movement consists of regional music competitions in most Canadian urban centres. Its origin probably traces as far back as an inaugural 1908 festival in Edmonton, where Governor General Earl Grey advocated the establishment of music festivals throughout Canada's...
Awards, and the W.J. Pickard Limited Scholarship. In 1962 he was invited as a soloist in many concerts in the Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
area of Ontario. For the McMaster University Operatic Society, he sang the role of Kezal, the marriage broker, in The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
, Lucas in The Student Prince
The Student Prince
The Student Prince is an operetta in four acts with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly. It is based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster's play Alt Heidelberg. The piece has elements of melodrama but lacks the swashbuckling style common to Romberg's other works...
, Escamillo in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, as well that of Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles is a demon featured in German folklore...
in the opera Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
. Earlier he sang in Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley is a movie starring Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse and Rory Culkin. The film made its debut in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 13, and made its limited theatrical release in North America in May 2006.-Plot:Set in modern-day San...
. In 1965, he performed excerpts from the part of Don Alfonso's role in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
. He sang with the Canadian Opera Chorus from 1964 to 1969. Leonid was a member of the Opera Quartet of Hamilton.
With the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra in Hamilton, Ontario.It was founded in 1949.Starting in 1969, under the leadership of Boris Brott, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra changed from an amateur ensemble to a professional orchestra. Brott raised the profile of the orchestra with...
and on television, Leonid performed Il maestro di cappella
Il maestro di cappella
Il maestro di cappella is an operatic intermezzo in one act by Domenico Cimarosa. The first known performance of the work was on July 2, 1793 in Berlin, Germany...
in two concerts. He sang the bass part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
, and with the Hamilton Opera, played Colline in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
in The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
, and Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
in the opera of the same name. The Hamilton Spectator
The Hamilton Spectator
The Hamilton Spectator, founded in 1846, is a newspaper published every day but Sunday in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The paper has a daily circulation of 105,000 and a daily readership of nearly 260,000.-History:...
and The Ukrainian Weekly
The Ukrainian Weekly
The Ukrainian Weekly is the oldest English-language newspaper of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States, and North America.Founded by the Ukrainian National Association, and published continuously since October 6, 1933, archived copies of the newspaper are available at leading libraries in the...
archives chronicle many of Leonid's early performances. In the sixties, Leonid was a soloist in the recording of the Easter Vespers Service with the choir of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
He appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
singing the roles of Count Ceprano and Brander in concert performances of Verdi's Rigoletto in 1968, and in The Damnation of Faust in 1969. Famous conductor Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
conducted these opera concerts at Massey Hall
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....
. Almost a decade later in 1977, Leonid returned to the Toronto Symphony
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
for a concert under the direction of the guest conductor and grand lady of opera Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell was a notable American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director of opera.- Life :Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and gave public performances on the violin by the time she was ten years old...
, singing excerpts from Rigoletto, in the role of Sparafucile, performed at the Forum in Ontario Place.
German period
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
, Southwest Germany: Raimundo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Bonzo in Butterfly, Der Bauer in Die Kluge, Dr. Grenvil in La traviata, Dr. Fabrizzio in Il Campiello, Rocco in Fidelio, Simon in Gianni Schicchi, Padre Guardiano in La forza del destino, and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni.
From 1971 until 1973, Leonid was contracted to the Theater Der Stadt Bonn. In Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
Leonid sang seven roles in six operas. Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Masetto also in "Don Giovanni, Micha in Bartered Bride, Montano in Othello, Reidinger in Mathis der Maler, Alidoro in La Cenerentola(Cinderella), and the 1st Nazarene in Salome. He also recorded Ukrainian songs with the Suedwest Rundfunk Orchestra.
Returning to Canada
He had a full season as a soloist with the Canadian Opera CompanyCanadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
in 1978, and then a prolific period of singing Ukrainian Opera and national song with the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Company and the Dnipro Choir of Edmonton Productions under the tutelage of Volodymyr Kolesnyk.
Leonid returned to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in 1973 and joined the Ivan Romanoff chorus and sang with his group for five years until 1978, singing weekly on CBC radio and in the summer every Sunday at the Ontario Place Forum.
With the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association he sang performances of the lead role of Ivan Karas in Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem Beyond the Danube, also referred to as Cossacks in Exile) is a Ukrainian comic opera with spoken dialogue in three acts with music and libretto by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky . The orchestration has subsequently been rewritten by composers such as Reinhold Glière and...
in 1975. In that same year, he sang in a vocal musical concert for the Ukrainian Art Society "Kozub". In 1976 he performed for the 50th anniversary of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Toronto. In 1977, he was featured in the Ukrainian Heritage Evening at the Forum in Ontario Place
Ontario Place
Ontario Place is a multiple use entertainment and seasonal waterfront park attraction located in Toronto, Ontario, and owned by the Crown in Right of Ontario. It is administered as an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, just south of...
. In 1978 Leonid performed for a full season as a soloist with the Canadian Opera Company. He sang in Tchaikovsky's Joan of Arc, Verdi's Rigoletto, "Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier playing the Cardinal, Count Ceprano, and the police commissioner.
In June 1979, the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association with Leonid in the role of Kozak Maksim, produced the North American première of the Ukrainian opera Kupalo, under the direction of Volodymyr Kolesnyk. There were many concert tours, including an invitation to Festival Canada on Canada Day, The Show on the Hill, which was telecast nationally by CBC TV from the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.
1980s
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
The Queen Elizabeth Theatre is a performing arts venue in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Along with the Orpheum and the Vancouver Playhouse, it is one of three facilities operated by the Vancouver Civic Theatres Department .Formerly the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, which...
. Eremenko's cantata Conquerors of the Prairie's, a collaboration of the Dnipro Choir in Edmonton
Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton
The Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton is a choir in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which specialises in Ukrainian choral music.The Dnipro Male Chorus was organized in Edmonton in 1953 by Roman Soltykevych, along with a group of devotees, whose primary concern was the fostering, promotion, and...
and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country...
, called on his talents in 1982. A record Ukraine is Rising which featured Leonid and other soloists was produced by Boris Dunayevsky-Dniprovy. A second one entitled You Are Alive Ukraine! would be produced later by Dnipro Art Production. 1981 marked the premiere of Kupalo in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
. The opera Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem Beyond the Danube, also referred to as Cossacks in Exile) is a Ukrainian comic opera with spoken dialogue in three acts with music and libretto by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky . The orchestration has subsequently been rewritten by composers such as Reinhold Glière and...
which had been staged in Toronto and Hamilton was followed by an appearance in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, also in 1981. This was an opera concert with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Ukrainian Canadian Opera Chorus. There were opera concerts in Ottawa and Montreal. The following article raved about Leonid, and I quote, The two basses were outstanding. Scenes and duets involving the bass Karas are of interest. The most outstanding was the bass Leonid Skirko as Karas. His vocal performance matched his acting.
Kupalo, which in 1979 had been staged in Toronto was now performed in Edmonton in 1981 at the Jubilee Auditorium, and the role of Kozak Maxim once again brought him acclaim. This opera was produced by the Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton
Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton
The Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton is a choir in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which specialises in Ukrainian choral music.The Dnipro Male Chorus was organized in Edmonton in 1953 by Roman Soltykevych, along with a group of devotees, whose primary concern was the fostering, promotion, and...
. Also in 1981, there was a symphony concert at Hamilton Place with the McMaster Symphony Orchestra and the Mohawk College Singers featuring Leonid in the coronation scene of Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
. There were two opera concerts in Ottawa and Montreal. 1982 marked the 50th anniversary concert of the Ukrainian National Federation in Edmonton, and in 1982 and 1983, duet concerts were performed with Hanna Kolesnyk, in Toronto, Cleveland and Detroit. In 1983, the character Ivan Karas came to life again in two performances of Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Zaporozhets za Dunayem Beyond the Danube, also referred to as Cossacks in Exile) is a Ukrainian comic opera with spoken dialogue in three acts with music and libretto by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky . The orchestration has subsequently been rewritten by composers such as Reinhold Glière and...
at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. A portrait of Leonid and his co-star Hanna Kolesnyk was commissioned for the production and painted by the Ukrainian artist Ludmila.
1984 marked Ukrainian Opera Week in Toronto which included Natalka Poltavka
Natalka Poltavka
Natalka Poltavka is a Ukrainian play written by Ivan Kotlyarevsky.-History:The play was written in 1819 in the Ukrainian language, first performed in 1821 in the city of Kharkiv, though it was not available in print until 1838...
and Zaporozhets Za Dunayem along with a gala concert which starred Leonid every evening of that week.
In 1985 and 1987 there were two concerts of Bortnyansky's Sacred Music, his 35 sacred concertos for the Millennium year of the Baptism of Ukraine, in Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
. In 1986 the female group Merezhi from Edmonton appeared in Toronto with Leonid. There were several millennium concerts. 1988 marked the official opening of the St.Volodymyr Cultural Centre in Oakville. There were concerts of mention in Detroit as well.
The magnificent Sacred Choral Concertos were an a cappella series of concertos written over a 25-year period from 1780 to 1805. These use a full choir against soloists or small ensembles known as concertinos. Bortnyansky's melodies are saturated with Ukrainian folk tunes, while the texts are taken from the Book of Psalms. The Millennium Choir soloists consisted of 6 sopranos, 3 altos, 4 tenors, 6 basses. There were two concerts to launch the recordings, one in 1985 and one in 1987 in Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
. The project was conceived by Maestro Kolesnyk, with the support of the Ukraine Millennium Foundation. No less than two hundred singers auditioned from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and only 40 were selected. Leonid is featured in 13 of the 35 concertos. The dream or original conception was to travel across the continent and beyond, but sadly, with Kolesnyk's death, this was not to occur.
1990s and 2000s
Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton
The Ukrainian Dnipro Ensemble of Edmonton is a choir in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which specialises in Ukrainian choral music.The Dnipro Male Chorus was organized in Edmonton in 1953 by Roman Soltykevych, along with a group of devotees, whose primary concern was the fostering, promotion, and...
celebrated 40 years of song by commissioning a choral-symphonic work, the oratorio "Sacred Dnipro" by Valeri Kikta
Valeri Kikta
Valeri Kikta is a Ukrainian classical composer. He was educated at the Moscow Choral College, then at the Moscow Conservatoire under Semyon Bogatyryov and Tikhon Khrennikov. On the recommendation of Shostakovich he moved on to post-graduate study.Kikta's compositions include ballets, symphonic,...
and librettist Sophia Maydanska. The world premiere of this oratorio was in Edmonton with Leonid singing the bass part. In 1996, the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association, together with the Dnipro Choir performed the oratorio "Sacred Dnipro" in Massey Hall in Toronto on April 28, 1996. The live performance of that concert was recorded and the C.D.'s are still available. This oratorio offers a panoramic view of the major epochs in the history of Ukraine, attempting to capture the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people. The executive producer of this effort was Toronto's Alla Shklar.
In 2002, Leonid sang the readings from the apostles for the nationally televised funeral of Ukrainian Canadian Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn
Ray Hnatyshyn
Ramon John Hnatyshyn , commonly known as Ray Hnatyshyn, was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 24th since Canadian Confederation....
. The millennium brought the release of the Sacred Dnipro C.D. in 2006.
External links
- http://www.leonidskirko.com The personal website of Leonid Skirko