Ukrainian Women’s Voices with Mariana Sadowska and Friends is set to be an interactive evening of women’s polyphonic singing in village style. It will be held on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 in Columbia’s Milbank Chapel from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Admission is free.

The event will feature the talent of acclaimed professional singer, actress, and composer, Mariana Sadowska. She is visiting the U.S. this year from Ukraine as a Fulbright scholar in music at Pennsylvania State University. For the past fourteen years, Sadowska has traveled to villages in the Poltava, Polissia, Hutsul, and Lemko regions of Ukraine to collect folksongs and rituals. The lives, songs, and stories she has learned about in her travels have inspired much of her recent work.

 For the show, she and a group of hand-picked New-York-area Ukrainian and American women will sing together in the traditional open-throat village singing style and three-part Ukrainian folk polyphony. Ukrainian-American singer and bandura player Julian Kytasty co-hosts the program, which features performances by the musicians of the New York Bandura Ensemble and other special guests. Singers trained by Sadowska will perform from the audience as well as the stage, encouraging all to join in the singing.