Bay Street Theater Hosts Concert For Ukraine: A Relief Benefit

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Concert For Ukraine, a humanitarian relief concert celebrating the music, arts, and culture of Ukraine, on Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m.

The concert will be hosted by Dr. Taras Filenko, a Ukrainian pianist, historian, ethnomusicologist, and a noted scholar of Ukrainian music, who will present a lecture and performance examining Ukrainian national identity through a musical lens. The concert is presented in collaboration between Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Bay Street Theater. Tickets are available with a minimum $20 donation, though guests are asked to give what they can, and can be purchased through the Box Office by calling 631 725 9500 Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 24/7 at baystreet.org.

Ethnomusicologist Dr. Taras Filenko will present a slide lecture and performance examining Ukrainian national identity through a musical lens. Ukrainian culture is currently under serious threat. In response, Dr. Filenko will explain how this is not a new occurrence but the continuation of a historical cycle of suppression and resilience. With examples from Ukrainian composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, Dr. Filenko will demonstrate the vitality and distinctiveness of Ukrainian culture, with a prayer (or with hope) for its future.

The Concert For Ukraine has been organized in response to the manmade, ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region, in collaboration between Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Bay Street Theater. All proceeds from the concert will go to support the International Rescue Committee, which has launched an emergency appeal to help support displaced families with critical aid and work directly with local partners to bolster the crisis response of people who have already been active in the community and are experts on the local context.

"The war in Ukraine has created over four million refugees," says Jay Schneiderman. "These displaced children and families need basic support including food and medical care. I appreciate Bay Street opening its doors to host a community event to raise funds to help address this humanitarian crisis."

"We felt it important to try to hear from Ukrainian artists themselves," says Bay Street Executive Director Tracy Mitchell. "We are fortunate to have access to this incredible artist who not only is an accomplished pianist, but who also will put the situation in context from his own experience with images and music."

Dr. Taras Filenko is a pianist, historian, and ethnomusicologist, and a noted scholar of Ukrainian music. A graduate of the National Academy of Music in Kyiv, Dr. Filenko served on the faculty there and eventually as Associate Dean of Conducting and Voice. From the Academy, he was awarded a Ph.D. in historic musicology in 1989, and later earned a doctorate in Ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998.

For over forty years, Dr. Filenko has worked in the fields of History of Music, Ethnomusicology and Music Performance (piano, organ, and choir directing), successfully combining his work as scholar, teacher and performer. He has presented numerous concerts throughout Europe and North America, promoting the works of contemporary Ukrainian composers. Dr. Filenko is a recipient of Fulbright and Petesh Scholarships. Together with his mother, Tamara Bulat, he authored The World of Mykola Lysenko: Ethnic Identity, Music Culture and Politics, (2010).

Bay Street Theater is a fully vaccinated company. All attendance is available via touchless ticketing. All guests must show proof of vaccination and will be required to wear a mask upon entry to the theater. For full list of COVID-19-related safety procedures and guidelines for in-person events, please visit us online at baystreet.org.

Bay Street Theater is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center, which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. It serves as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.

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