The Washington Group

On November 20, 2022 a provisional TWG Board of Directors was elected. It was tasked to revitalize TWG and prepare a TWG Annual Meeting for February 2024 to be fully compliant with TWG by-laws. The new TWG Board of Directors consists of: Laryssa Courtney, President; George Masiuk, Vice-President; George Hnatiw, Treasurer; Tania Chomiak-Salvi, Secretary; George Masiuk, acting Membership Director; Michael Drabyk, Public Relations Director; Adrian Pidlusky, Public Relations – Social Media Director; Alexa Chopivsky, Events Director; Andrew Bihun, Immediate Past President; Laryssa Courtney and Christine Lucyk, TWG Cultural Fund Co-Directors; Adrian Karmazyn, TWG Fellowship Fund Director; Members-at-Large – Arthur Belendiuk, Orest Deychakiwsky, Natalie Korytnyk, Lydia Martinec, Rosalie Norair, Oksana Shulyar.

Please take a look at our recent and past accomplishments by clicking through the slide show below.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Distinguished Speaker Series: John Hewko, Rotary International CEO — Friday, November 1, 2024 at noon at the historic DACOR Bacon House

Mr. Hewko will speak about Rotary’s work in Ukraine, Ukraine’s legal and economic development, and his perspective on reconstruction.

Before becoming Rotary International’s CEO, Mr. Hewko served as Vice-president of Millennium Challenge Corporation and Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie in Kyiv and Prague.

CLICK HERE by October 24 to purchase tickets. Seating is limited to fifty persons.

DACOR Bacon House, 1801 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006

In August 1991 John Hewko assisted Ukrainian parliamentarians with the logistics of drafting and then passing the resolution for Ukraine’s independence. He then participated in the effort that urged Ukrainians to affirm their desire for independence in the December 1991 referendum. John spoke at a TWG organized event on December 20, 1991 at Saint Andrews Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. Video of his presentation.

Violinist Solomia Soroka and Pianist Arthur Greene in Concert — Sunday, November 3, 2024 — 3 pm — Alexandria Lyceum

The concert will present an overview of the music scene with works by Berezovsky, Lysenko, Kosenko, Barvinsky, Skoryk, Stankovych, and Frolyak.

“a superbly equipped violinist.” The Washington Post

“Another virtuoso piece…confidently delivered by this brilliant duo.”                                                                                                Gramophone

Suggested Donation $20 (cash and checks), Students free.

Reception to celebrate TWG’s 40th anniversary to follow. The Lyceum, 201 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Please scroll down to see the extensive coverage of Stanislav Kristenko’s concert held on July 13, 2024.

TWGCF Concert – March 12, 2017 Solomia Soroka and Arthur Greene

RECENT PAST EVENTS

Former TWG President Yaroslav Bihun (1943-2024)

Once again, we share the sad news that one of our former TWG Presidents has passed away. Yaro Bihun, TWG President 1988 – 1990, died on August 30 from complications following a fall. Yaro wore many different hats over many years of activity in our organization: TWG NEWS editor and publisher (1993-2001), journalist and photographer chronicling TWG and TWGCF events, and graphic designer producing TWG Conference brochures, membership directories, and TWGCF event programs. He was truly indispensable. And most importantly, he was a true friend and mentor to many of us. Our hearts go out to his family, among them his brother Andy Bihun, who is also a former TWG President, and his wife Lesia Bihun, a longtime member of the TWG Cultural Fund committee. A funeral mass will be held on Friday, September 20 at 11am at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family.  May he rest in peace. Vichnaya pamiyat.

Laryssa Courtney

President, The Washington Group

OBITUARY

Eulogy, delivered by TWG President Laryssa Courtney on September 20, 2024

TWGCF 25th Anniversary Celebration on May 19, 2019 at the Alexandria Lyceum. L to R: TWGCF Co-director Laryssa Courtney, Yaroslav Bihun, Stefania Dovhan, Rosalie Norair, Sonia Sonevytsky, TWGCF Co-director Christine Lucyk

Former TWG President Ihor Kotlarchuk (1943-2024)

It is with great sadness that I share with you the news that our former TWG President (2000 -2005) Ihor Kotlarchuk has passed away. His leadership of TWG was exemplary and he will be missed by his many friends and colleagues. Ihor passed away after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease. Our hearts go out to his beloved wife Natalia Holub, who was an active member of the TWG Cultural Fund when she was Cultural attaché at the Embassy of Ukraine. May he rest in peace.

Laryssa Courtney

President, The Washington Group

Ihor Kotlarchuk and wife Natalka Holub at Pro-Ukraine Rally in Washington, DC circa 2023

Link to Obituary

Link to Eulogy delivered by TWG President Laryssa Courtney on June 29, 2024

Summer 2024: TWG Summer Intern at the Embassy of Ukraine Comments on His Experience

Embassy of Ukraine First Secretary Kateryna Smagliy, Daniil Miroshnichenko

During my internship at the Embassy of Ukraine I was deeply involved in a range of activities which offered me a comprehensive understanding of international relations, public diplomacy and the functioning of the embassy as an institution. This hands-on experience not only enhanced my knowledge, but also sharpened my skills in executing work in a fast-paced environment. The internship has played a key role in shaping my academic and career path, giving me a strong foundation in international diplomacy and a clearer idea of my future goals in this field.

Daniil Miroshnichenko

Background….The Embassy of Ukraine had selected Daniil Miroshnichenko, a School of Public Affairs student at American University, for the summer internship. Daniil Miroshnichenko is studying Political Science, Global Security, and International Political Economy. He is a Research Assistant at the Eurasia Center where he analyzes Russian information warfare. He is a co-founder and volunteer in the charity organization “Kozhen Maye Znachennya” (Each of Us Matters).

Many thanks to the TWG Internship committee consisting of Adrian Karmazyn, Orest Deychakiwsky, and Natalie Korytnyk for providing the Embassy with excellent internship candidates from which the Embassy has made the selection. The committee received more than 20 applications for the internship.

July 13, 2024 Pianist Stanislav Khristenko Concert Marks TWG Cultural Fund’s 30th Anniversary

Stanislav Khristenko presented a program featuring preludes written by twelve Ukrainian-born composers at the Alexandria Lyceum. In addition to performing the preludes, Mr. Khristenko provided interesting commentary about the compositions and the composers.  

As an introduction, Mr. Khristenko played three works by Johann Sebastian Bach, two preludes and the Chaconne in D minor arranged for piano for the left hand by Brahms. He referenced Bach’s “Well Tempered Clavier” consisting of twenty-four preludes and fugues written in all major and minor keys ordered in a chromatic scheme. He pointed out that eventually a prelude became a short piece of absolute music not necessarily followed by a longer work and that several composers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries wrote sets of preludes. Mr. Khristenko has launched a project of collecting preludes written by composers born in Ukraine and he performed twelve works from this collection. The featured composers were Myroslav Skoryk, Sergei Prokofiev, Maxym Shalygin, Levko Revutsky, Karol Szymanowski, Samuil Feinberg, Vsevolod Zaderatsky, Vasyl Barvinsky, Borys Lyatoshinsky, Samuel Maykapar, Leonid Desyatnikov, and Nikolai Kapustin. Some of these names are well-known while others are not widely familiar. It was interesting to learn about lesser-known composers and be introduced to their music.  Before playing each prelude, Mr. Khristenko presented a biographical sketch of the composer and the historical context in which the work was created. The ordering of the preludes in the program was set in a chromatic scale echoing the arrangement of Bach’s preludes and fugues from the “Well Tempered Clavier”.

Mr. Khristenko is not only a pianist with a formidable technique but also a sensitive and expressive musician. He has been described as a “poet of the piano” and praised for his “emotional intensity”. Both descriptions were vividly displayed as the artist, through twelve relatively short pieces differing from each other in style and mood, was able to create a fascinating musical journey. At the conclusion of the recital, the musical performance and the accompanying narrative were received with enthusiastic applause by the audience.

Mr. Khristenko’s recital marked the TWG Cultural Fund’s thirtieth anniversary. A reception was held after the concert with the centerpiece being a cake emblazoned with “TWG Cultural Fund Celebrates 30th Anniversary.”

Video — Stanislav Khristenko performs Nikolai Kapustin’s Prelude in A Flat Major, Opus 53, No. 17

Concert Program

TWG NEWS (June-July 1994)covering the launch of the TWG Cultural Fund

Extensive Supplementary Information: Ukrainian born composers whose Preludes were performed at the concert – Biographies, Photos, Video clips of preludes performed at the concert, other works.

April 20, 2024 Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk Addresses TWG Luncheon

On April 20, 2024, The Washington Group organized a luncheon for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk at the historic DACOR Bacon House, a private club for foreign affairs professionals located near the White House.

TWG president Laryssa Courtney welcomed the audience to the organization’s 40th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Luncheon and thanked Ms. Matviichuk for taking time to share information about the important work of her organization. Just forty years old, she heads up the Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, the first Nobel Prize bestowed upon a Ukrainian individual or organization since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

In her introduction of Ms. Matviichuk, TWG Events Director Alexa Chopivsky mentioned the Center’s many activities aimed at protecting human rights and promoting democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. Since the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014, these activities have included monitoring political persecution in occupied Crimea, documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Donbas and conducting the #LetMyPeopleGo and #SaveOlegSentsov international campaigns to release political prisoners detained by Russian authorities. 

After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression in February 2022, Ms. Matviichuk together with other partners created the “Tribunal for Putin” initiative to document crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. She authored numerous reports to the UN, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the International Criminal Court. Ms. Matviichuk received many honors and awards, including a fellowship in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program at Stanford University. In 2022, the Financial Times recognized her as one of the 25 most influential women in the world.

In her inspiring remarks, Ms. Matviichuk described the wide-ranging human rights abuses integral to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She made a compelling case for why the international community should uphold the rule of law.

Among the human rights abuses Ms. Matviichuk cited: deliberate shelling of civilian infrastructure including schools and hospitals; taking children to Russia and imposing a Russian identity on them; and killing, torturing, and raping civilians. The Center seeks to document all Russian war crimes even in the smallest of settlements. Sixty thousand cases have already been documented.

Ms. Matviichuk said the international order based on rule of law was collapsing. There was a conflict at the civilizational level between democracy and autocracy. The war was not only between Russia and Ukraine. China, North Korea, Iran, and Syria were helping Russia. Democracies needed to cooperate.

The consequence of the breakdown of a rules-based order will be the massive rearmament of the world’s nations. Resources that should be spent to improve the standard of living will be diverted to the military.

If we wanted to prevent future war crimes, she said, the perpetrators must be punished. Historically, war criminals were punished only after a war ended. “We should not wait that long. We need to establish a tribunal for war crimes right now.”

Ms. Matviichuk addressed misguided calls for peace at the expense of justice and of Ukrainian territory. This would only encourage the commission of crimes with impunity. She finished by asserting that Ukrainians would never agree to Russian subjugation.

During the Q and A, TWG Board Member Orest Deychakiwsky, who spent many years with the U.S. Helsinki Commission covering Belarus and Ukraine, highlighted the plight of Nobel Prize co-recipient Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.  Ms. Matviichuk decried his continuing imprisonment by dictator Alexander Lukashenka.  She noted that many Belarusians recognize the linkage between Belarus’ freedom and Ukraine’s freedom, including the opposition volunteer Kalinouski brigade actively fighting on Ukraine’s side.

Editorial Notes: A version of this article was published in the 04/27 edition of The Ukrainian Weekly. A well documented example of Russian atrocities is the massacre in Bucha.

Summer 2023: TWG Summer Interns at the Embassy of Ukraine Comment on Their Experience

From L-R: Karolina Naidon, Amb. Oksana Markarova, Mariana Piontkovska

Two university students who participated in summer internships at the Embassy of Ukraine with financial support from The Washington Group have sent letters of appreciation to TWG expressing thanks for “the opportunity to work closely with Ukrainian diplomats and gain more insight into Ukrainian-American relations and international affairs more generally.”  They referred to the internship as “a meaningful experience” especially because they “plan to pursue a diplomatic career path and work for the bright future of Ukraine.”

The aspiring diplomats who served as TWG-sponsored interns are Karolina Naidon, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Mariana Piontkovska, a student at Georgetown University.

For complete article click here.

June 26, 2023. Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine performed by Ensemble Cherubim.

The choral benefit concert for Ukraine, in the beautiful and sparkling mosaic filled sanctuary of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, was a great success. It was well-attended and featured an ensemble of twenty professional singers, Ensemble Cherubim, who sang in Ukrainian, but, with just one exception, were not of Ukrainian heritage. English translations were provided. The format of this concert was unique, combining beautiful singing in Ukrainian with movement, acting, and powerful poetry recited in English.  It highlighted the past in Ukraine, as well as the present circumstances amid war. By weaving together all the different elements, the expressive and talented conductor and music director, Marika Kuzma, an actor in her own right, choreographed this fluidity and created a very engaging kind of musical theatre. Proceeds from the concert went to United Help Ukraine. Concert Program. Concert Flyer. VIEW COMPLETE CONCERT. Photos from this concert are part of the slideshow “TWG Professional Events” in the Archive below.

March 16, 2023. This Ukrainian American Life performed by contralto Vira Slywotzky and composer pianist Dina Pruzhansky at the Embassy of France.

Proceeds from the Concert went to Razom for Ukraine. Concert Review. Concert Flyer and Program.

May 12, 2021 Soprano Stefania Dovhan and pianist Aaron Thacker perform in (virtual) concert.

Concert on YOUTUBE.

Take a Look at the TWG ARCHIVE