This Ukrainian American Life

Vira has performed principal roles with Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Chelsea Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Light Opera of New York, Sarasota Opera, Boston Midsummer Opera and Victor Herbert Renaissance Project – LIVE!, and has appeared in concert with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Rockland Camerata and New Haven Chamber Orchestra. She has sung recitals, concerts and cabarets in New York at Merkin Hall, Metropolitan Room, Opera America, Sheen Center, SubCulture, Symphony Space, The Duplex, Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Museum and Weill Hall. Internationally Slywotzky has performed at the Hudson Music Festival in Hudson, CA, Festival D’Avignon in Avignon, FR, at Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the American Church in Paris, FR, at the Armel Opera Festival in Szeged, HU, at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, RU and at the Gustov Adolf Church in Sundsvall, SE.

Until spring 2020, Slywotzky sang soprano. Her operatic repertoire included Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte, Nedda in Pagliacci, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, Micaela and Mercedes in Carmen, Magda in The Consul, Mrs. Fiorentino in Street Scene and the title role in Vanessa.

In the spring of 2020, Slywotzky began transitioning to contralto, and has since been exploring operatic roles such as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, Marquise in La fille du regiment, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Gaia in Daphne and Polina in Piques Dame.

A champion of new music, Slywotzky has premiered more than 30 vocal works, ranging in size and scope from stand-alone song to opera, perhaps most notably creating the role of Mrs. Fatima Bakshlevi in The Woman in Penthouse A as part of Single Occupancies: Three Contemporary Opera Theatre Monologues at Key West Studios in Key West, Florida in January 2020.

Recital partners include Peiharn Chen, Dina Pruzhansky, Yegor Shevtsov, Daniel Stagno and David Sytkowski.

In May 2018 Slywotzky founded the concert series Vira & Friends, with the aim of bringing people together to enjoy the live performance of songs written for voice and piano. For information on artists, repertoire and venues visit the Vira & Friends page.

From 2008 to 2018 Slywotzky performed with Mirror Visions Ensemble, a vocal trio known for its innovative programming, nuanced performances and extensive commissioning. Slywotzky can be heard on the group’s 2015 commercial recording, The Three-Paneled Mirror.

The recipient of a 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, Slywotzky has twice been a New England Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and in 2009 was the sole representative of the United States at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Slywotzky is as happy onstage acting, narrating and emceeing as singing. She is particularly proud to have performed in all three major versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – as Helena in the Britten opera, First Fairy in Mendelssohn’s ballet and Bottom in the original Shakespeare.

Slywotzky received an MM from Mannes and a BA from Yale. She was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Slywotzky has been a member of the Berkshire Opera Festival’s Board of Directors since a year before the organization’s 2016 inaugural season, and has served as President and Secretary.

Click here to visit Vira’s website.

Dina Pruzhansky is an award-winning composer and pianist, residing in NYC. Praised for her “cinematic, movingly evoking” compositions (Broadway World) that “brought forth the liveliest playing” from the performers (The New York Times), she maintains a diverse international career. Her creative output ranges from classical concert music to cabaret and from liturgical works to musical theatre. As composer/performer, she has been featured at venues such as Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Bargemusic, Symphony Space, YIVO, Opera America Center, Aspen Music Festival, 92NY, The Kosciuszko Foundation, Le Poisson Rouge, and others, as well as numerous international arenas. Her works have been broadcast on media, including radio WQXR in an exclusive ‘Young Artist’ program featuring her work, radio channel Kol HaMusica, and several European networks.

Dina Pruzhansky’s opera film ‘Heroes of New York’ (libretto by Briana Hunter, 2021), has been named an official selection for a number of international festivals, including O22 by Opera Philadelphia. Ms. Pruzhansky has won Aspen Composition Fellowship 2019; 1st prize at Noosa Isam International Piano Composition Competition (2018); 3rd prize at the International Joseph Dorfmann composer competition (2018). Following the successful premiere of her opera ‘SHULAMIT,’ presented in 2014 through a commissioning grant from Genesis UJA, a new production took place in 2016 by popular demand at the JCC of Manhattan Auditorium and shown, in part, at the Aspen Music Festival 2019. Selected premiere performers include Aspen Conductors’ Orchestra (AM New York for Symphony Orchestra), ACE quartet (Under The Red Moon, revised), Semplice Players (quartet Under The Red Moon), Downtown Sinfonietta of White Plains with narration by Robert Sherman (Symphony Tale for the whole family ‘Teeny-Tiny Violin’), Bachanalia strings ensemble (Holiday Music, The Song of Songs),Quartetto Indaco (String Quartet no. 1), the ARK trio (On Love and Land for soprano, cello, & piano), NB Chamber Group (quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, & piano), clarinetist Julian Milkis, pianist Hagai Yodan and many others.

An alumna of the Tony-awarded BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, Ms. Pruzhansky was nominated for the 2009 Fred Ebb Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre writing and selected as a finalist for the NYMF 2019. She has served as composer-in-residence at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester and Temple Shalom, Dallas. Her liturgical works have been featured at the Zamir Choral Festival NAJCF.

Born in Azerbaijan to Jewish Ukrainian parents and raised in Israel, Ms. Pruzhansky moved to New York in 2006. She is a postgraduate alumna from the Mannes School of Music. She serves as a faculty member at the 92NY School of Music. A passionate educator, she is the author of the book of easy piano arrangements ‘I Can Play Chopin’, and a sought-after guest in music talk programs and podcasts. Ms. Pruzhansky holds an MA in piano performance summa cum laude from Tel-Aviv University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Art History.

Click here to visit Dina’s website.

Razom was born out of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 when millions of people worked together and risked their lives to build a pathway to a better future for Ukraine. Since then, Razom has initiated a wide range of short and long-term projects, and has collaborated on existing projects with partner organizations to help Ukraine foster democracy and prosperity. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Razom immediately mobilized an emergency response to save lives.

• Razom provides critical humanitarian war relief and recovery to address the most urgent needs as they evolve.  Razom has built an end-to-end procurement and delivery system that places all aid directly into the hands of the people in Ukraine, providing tactical medical kits, hospital supplies, medicines, and communication equipment to first responder units on the frontlines.
• Razom helps local Ukrainian volunteer organizations provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the war.  This includes delivering food and medicine, evacuating people, and providing shelter.  Razom works with trusted organizations that understand the local needs firsthand and have a proven track record of humanitarian service. 
• Razom assists newly arriving displaced Ukrainians (DUs) in the US through its partnership with another Ukrainian nonprofit, Ukrainian Jersey City.

Razom also continuously advocates for Ukraine by educating about policies that strengthen and support Ukraine, building trusted connections with civic leaders, activists, and elected officials in Ukraine and the US to relay critical information to the public, media, businesses, and government officials.  The goal is to advocate for a decisive Ukrainian victory, as this is a fundamental security interest for the US and its allies.  Razom has activated constituents across the US, held weekly rallies, and engaged businesses.

Visit Razom for Ukraine online to learn more.