PAVLO HUNKA

International Opera singer Pavlo Hunka was born in Coventry, England. He studied Modern Languages and then Law, qualifying as a lawyer in 1986. For many years Pavlo had been a keen amateur singer. In 1988 he won a scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, graduated with distinction and, in 1991 began a 3-year contract at Basel Opera House in Switzerland. There he continued his studies with Kammersängerin Maria Sandulescu.

After finishing at Basel, he embarked on a highly successful opera career on the European continent. During the last 10 years Pavlo has sung over 30 leading operatic roles in the major Opera Houses of the world including Vienna, Paris, Moscow, Salzburg, Florence, Madrid, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome,Geneva and Tokyo. He has sung with leading conductors including Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Peter Schneider, Semyon Bychkov, Armin Jordan and England's Jeffrey Tate, Mark Wigglesworth and Mark Elder. Last year Pavlo returned to live in England. In May he debuted at the London Coliseum, in the role of 'Boris,' in the English National Opera production of Shostakovich's 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' to rave reviews.

Pavlo has recently sung the title role in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Verdi's 'Falstaff' and at the Teatro Real in Madrid in Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades'. Future engagements include:- Grand Theatre de Geneve - Janacek's 'From the House of the Dead', Wagner's 'Siegfried' at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' at English National Opera.

Pavlo's mother was born in Coventry but his father was Ukrainian. From them, he inherited his passion for singing and, particularly, his love for Slavic church, classical and folk music. After settling in his operatic career, Pavlo has found time in his busy schedule to inspire the creation of the Bulava Chorus based in England and made up of true 'amateurs' of Slavic music. He comments, '...the deep resonant sound of Eastern European voices speak to my soul more expressively than, perhaps, any other music...'

It is with this sentiment in mind that Pavlo embarked on his search for the best amateur Slavic voices in the country. '...Primarily, I looked amongst the Ukrainian Communities here in England, but my dearest wish is to broaden the membership to welcome talented singers from all cultures...'

All members of the Bulava Chorus are men who hail from England, Germany, Poland and U.S.A. They are all successful in their own fields and have a passion for singing no less intense than Pavlo's. '...We are striving to create a unique sound in performance, combining a dark, resonant, Slavic tone with a free western spirit...'

Future projects include:-

A presentation of Lord Byron's celebrated poem
'Mazepa' complemented by Ukrainian classical songs;

An Opera Gala;

Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex;

A 20th century Divine Liturgy commissioned by one
of Ukraine's foremost composers - Lesya Dychko;

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13.