Bronitsky and Associates Blog

The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band just returned from a very successful tour to Lithuania under the auspices of Bronitsky and Associates and the United States Embassy in Vilnius–a special shoutout to all the Embassy staff who worked so hard to make this happen!

Ieva Sadzeviciene, the Head of the Tolerance Center at the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, invited the Band to play at the Center, and audiences were delighted by the high-energy music and superb musicianship.  A special highlight was a joint performance during the concert at the Tolerance Center with Lithuania’s own Sutaras (http://www.sutaras.lt/kapelija.php?lang=en) a BIG hit with the audience!

The Band also gave a workshop at the Vilnius Music Conservatory, imparting their fusion of klezmer and jazz and show tunes to delighted music students.  They finished their tour in the City of Kaunas (Lithuania’s second largest city), under the auspices of the 600th Anniversary of Kaunas Committee.  They performed in the annual folk festival to an audience of 400+ Lithuanians, most of whom had never been exposed to klezmer music.  The city congratulated them on their “incredible success.”

Today was the day for my return to the United States–and what a day!  I arrived at the airport at 9:30 am, and it took me an hour just to check in.  Got to the gate–flight delayed.  Delayed again.  Ultimately, the flight left the Moscow airport 8 hours late, for a total of ten hours at the airport.  Whew!  Of course I missed my connecting flight from Dulles to Albuquerque–spent a few hours at a hotel in DC with just enough time to relax before heading back to the airport for a 6 am departure, finally arriving home at 9:30 am. 

As you can imagine, I was very jetlagged upon my return–but it was a very exciting trip with wonderful, creative, hardworking people and great plans for the future!

I was scheduled to speak that evening so I decided to relax and just enjoy being in Moscow again.  I had first visited Moscow in 2003, when I produced a one-woman show for Navajo fashion designer Virginia Yazzie Ballenger with the US embassy.  It was exciting visit and a great show but it didn’t leave much time for experiencing the city.  This time, I just walked around the city near the guest house where I was staying, enjoying the sights and the sounds, the beauty of the buildings and churches outlined against the clear blue sky.  What a pleasure!

I also had the opportunity to meet Joe Merante at last.  He’s the Executive Director of the Humpty Dumpty Institute in New York, and we had worked together to bring Navajo fluteplayer Andrew Thomas to Pakistan a few years back.  It was a most enjoyable meeting, learning about his work, and sharing ideas–and tasting Siberian food for the first time.

And that evening was my talk at the American Center, “International Cultural Marketing:  American Indians and World Markets”–many thanks to Amara Telleen, the Center’s director and her very able assistant, Irina Chernenkaya, for arranging my talk and making my visit such a good experience. 

Afterwards I met with Namgar, a very exciting Buryat singer, and her husband and a friend who acted as translator.  We had wanted to explore ways in which we could work together–and created the outline for a concert with the working title, Strong Women, which will feature Indigenous women from the US, Canada, Sweden and Namgar.  We all had the feeling of being present at the creation of something very exciting–stay tuned!

Tuesday May 11, 2010
Today another four hour drive back to Volgograd.  I love the immensity of the steppes, the sense of possibilities as infinite as the land, which was green and in bloom–spring has arrived. 

Back in Volgograd, a delicious steak lunch with Elena Mischenko, the Director of the Agency of Cultural Initiatives for the Administration of the Volgograd Region, Elena Sobinova, the Head of International Relations of the Volgograd Regional Committee for Cultural Affairs, and at the end,  Natalya Kozichuk, Coordinator of the American Corner in Volgograd joined us as well.  I had gotten to know them during the roundtables–they had put in a lot of work to make this event happen, and had done an excellent job.  This lunch was an opportunity for serious discussion about working together and possible projects.  I must say, it was one of the most exciting lunches I’ve had in a long time–stay tuned!

Monday May 10, 2010
When I got the invitation to participate in this roundtable, I let everyone on my mailing list know I was coming to Russia, and asked if they wanted to meet.  The upshot–today the Artistic Director of the Kalmyk State Dance Theatre “Oiraty” in Alista (the capital of the region of Kalmykia) sent a car and driver for me to meet with them, see the theater, and explore ways in which we can work together.  The Kalmyks are Mongols and as I mentioned earlier, it’s the only region in Europe that has a Buddhist majority.  It’s about 3-4 hours drive from here across the vast Russian steppes.  People here in Volgograd have told me it’s like a different world, very different indeed from the rest of Russia.  They were certainly right. 

I did get to attend a performance by the Kalmyk State Dance Theatre “Oiraty.”  Although nothing came of this trip in a business sense, it was an opportunity to see something quite different and have a very interesting and enjoyable late dinner with the director.

Sunday May 9, 2010
Sunday morning we went to the ceremonies in the main square of Volgograd for the parade of heroes, as it was called, with marching troops and heavy weapons, and again the veterans as guests of honor.  It’s not often I get to see tanks!

In the afternoon, a concert by the Volgograd Philharmonic of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, with film clips from the siege shown on a backdrop.  To see the grim realities of the two-year battle, and then to realize that the soldiers seen on the newsclips were in the audience made it an especially moving experience.

But we did have very good discussions in the round tables too, as they are looking for advice on creating festivals and developing audiences.  There were several Cossacks in the discussion who proposed a Cossack festival–I suggested they change it by broadening it to a celebration of the horse, as the Cossacks were Russia’s most famous mounted troops.  The upshot?  I may be coproducing a festival, for which I suggested the title (in English) of Gallop!, bringing different international participants every year–Crow Indian horsemen one year, Mongols another, etc. 

And Sunday evening was a very elegant dinner–even red caviar!–on a cruise ship on the Volga.  Much toasting and drinking, vodka flowing like water, as the celebrations on the river bank continued, culminating again in a spectacular fireworks display. 

Saturday May 8, 2010
The first session of the roundtable took place Saturday morning, and that afternoon we went to the first of the ceremonies commemorating the siege of Stalingrad, held on Mamayaev Hill with its massive statue of Mother Russia (taller than the Statue of Liberty), which was erected after the war to honor the hundreds of thousands who died here.  We got VIP seats and the commemoration was very powerful, a modern dance piece choreographed with soldiers and children as well as dancers, with film clips from the siege.  The guests of honor, of course, were the surviving veterans, men and women with chests full of medals and ribbons, and young people giving them flowers.  It started to pour and we were soaked, but nobody left–very moving indeed and then a massive display of fireworks.  Wow!

Friday May 7, 2010
17 hours flying time Albuquerque/DC/Moscow/Volgograd but here I am in Volgograd.  Whew!  I had been invited (and funded from the Russian side) to participate in the “International Round-Table Discussion–The Role and Significance of Cultural Events for the Development of a Territory” as part of a first annual festival here which is part of the long-standing tradition of honoring and commemorating Volgograd (or Stalingrad as it was known in WWII) and its heroic and tragic two-year resistance to German siege, which ultimately broke Germany’s power.  The first event was an elegant dinner, and the group is very cosmopolitan, with city and regional cultural and economic officials, and cultural workers from England, Canada, India, Egypt and more–and me.

Here I am in the Albuquerque Airport, en route to Volgograd, Calista and Moscow.  It should be quite an exciting experience. Elena Sobinova, the Head of International Relations of the Volgograd Regional Committee for Cultural Affairs, has invited me to attend the 1st International Art Festival “On the Main Height of Russia.” The festival will take place in Volgograd City (ex-Stalingrad) on 8-9 May, 2010, at the venue of the Mamayev Hill, home to the biggest sculpture in the world. The festival foresees the performances of some of the best Russian and international artists.   There will also be a major open forum devoted to a discussion on issues affecting international cultural exchange. The mission of the festival is to support the key themes of peace, tolerance, mutual understanding and cultural dialogue between nations.

I have been invited to attend as an “honoured guest” of the festival.  They think that my visit to Volgograd will contribute to the consolidation of relationships between the two countries, as well as encouraging the development of new cultural initiatives and  promotion of American performing arts in Russia. I’ll certainly do my best – they’ve got a very full program.

Then I’ll go to Elista, capital of Kalmykia, to meet with Peter Nadbitov, the Artist Director of the Kalmyk State Dance Theatre “Oiraty.”  Then back to Volgograd and on to Moscow, where I’ll speak at the American Center on May 12 on “International Cultural Marketing:  American Indians and World Markets.” I’ve invited many of the Siberians I met last year in Ottawa at the Aboriginal Policy Research Conference to attend my talk.  We’ve been discussing creating a Siberian Indigenous performing arts festival, so stay tuned!