New Philharmonia Orchestra’s French, American, and Ukrainian connections

On Sunday, March 12, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, led by Principal Conductor Jorge Soto, will perform at Brown Middle School, featuring Ukrainian-born soprano Olga Lisovska. In another of the Orchestra’s World Reflections series, the concert is making the French/American/Ukrainian connection. Mme. Lisovska will sing Juliet’s Waltz, from Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod, and Glitter and Be Gay, from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. Honoring her Ukrainian heritage as well as reflecting on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she will sing the aria, Nightingale’s Romance, by Ukrainian composer Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky. In addition to the three arias, the program will include works by two French composers: D’un Soir Triste, by Lili Boulanger and the Symphony in D minor by Cesar Franck.

Mme. Lisovska herself is a reflection of the three countries. She was born in Ukraine, where she began studying English in the first grade, and was in a high school exchange programs in upstate New York. When she graduated from her high school in Kyiv, she attended Middlebury College in Vermont on a full scholarship, where she majored in economics and political science and minored in French and music and spent a year abroad in Paris.

Mme. Lisovska explained that her mother worried about the vagaries of an artistic career, urging her daughter to pursue a career in economics instead. As the first-ever vocalist to win a concerto contest at Middlebury, and with the encouragement of her fiancé and her music advisor, Mme. Lisovska determined to change career gears in following her passion and extraordinary vocal talent.

With that decision, Mme. Lisovska Middlebury launched her career with voice training at the École Normale de Musique d’A. Cortot in Paris as well as with numerous Young Artist Programs in the United States. Although she has performed operatic roles, she prefers the concert stage and has sung at Carnegie Hall and, of course, Jordan Hall. In addition, she has produced a Ukrainian comic opera, The Cossack Beyond the Danube, in which she was a lead as well.

Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine last year, Mme. Lisovska has devoted much of her time to securing aid for Ukraine. She and Ukrainian-born Natasha Sky, also a Newton resident, have joined their considerable energies in forming Sky Philanthropy, gathering medical and other supplies to send to Ukraine. “It’s important for people to understand we are Ukrainians with our own culture and identity,” she said. Last summer, Sky Philanthropy helped produce a Ukrainian Festival at Boston University, attended by more than 3,000 people, and they are working on a second festival for this summer on August 26.

At the same time, they are working to help Ukrainian refugees — among them, Mme. Lisovska’s mother, who, like most Ukrainians, was unaware of the impending invasion. With Kyiv Putin’s target, her mother fled and went to stay with friends in Lviv, but that, too, came under fire. From Lviv, equipped with nothing but a backpack, her mother took a long bus ride to Budapest, where a friend of NewTV’s news director, Jenn Adams, met her and helped her to travel to Zagreb, Croatia, where she stayed with some relatives. Finally, she flew to the United States and now lives here.

In performing the Nightingale’s Romance, Mme. Lisovska is paying tribute to Ukraine. Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky is one of Ukraine’s best-known composers, and the aria is a performance favorite. She explained that in many of his other works, the composer reflects Ukrainian folk themes, especially those of Lemkos, an ethnic group in the Carpathian Mountains.

Mme. Lisovska and her husband, Kristijan, live in Newton with their two sons, aged sixteen and eight. In addition to her concert career and Sky Philanthropy, Mme. Lisovska produces concerts here and abroad. She loves working with Jorge Soto and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, but wishes Newton had a large venue for full orchestra concerts.

Sunday’s concert is at Brown Middle School at 3PM.

New Philharmonia Orchestra’s French, American, and Ukrainian connections

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