I may start with the fact that he is a laureate of the first prize of S. Lyudkevych International Contest held in Canada. Or I may start with the fact that he tries to surprise his listeners with this album. And I think he has managed to do that in a full measure. Not only because he has a deep and expressive voice, though it is also very important. You want to hear that voice more and more. He surprises his listeners with his repertoire. Judge by yourself – along with usual "Bandura player, a gray eagle" by Taras Shevchenko you can hear "Seasons. Spring" by Vivaldi, "Sonata C-dur" by Paganini and other interesting compositions. He uses technical facilities for chromatization of the scale of strings, so that now the compositions of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Bortnyanskyi, Lysenko and of some modern composers get revived in his repertoire. It is worth while listening to. It is worth while listening to the way how a bandura player becomes universal – he not only sings accompanied by bandura, but also performs solo and with an orchestra. Equally well. It seems to me, that this is an example of that artistic approach, due to which old things become new and new things live a long life. And live happily.
Anton Jozhik Leyba (Hedgehog)
, Perkinsville, USA
, Nancy, France