'Croatian Cantata' performance is the culmination of a dream

MUSICIANS: Mary Sherhart leads a choir and orchestra drawn from groups such as the Radost Folk Ensemble, Vela Luka Croatian Ensemble, Saint Cecilia Singers and Saint Gregory Choir

WHEN: Sunday night at 7:30

WHERE: St. James Cathedral, 804 Ninth Ave.

TICKETS: Suggested donation of $17 at the door

Her interests do not lie with Bach, Beethoven or Brahms -- their antecedents or descendants. Rather, it is folk music of Eastern Europe. Bulgaria is her specialty, but she is also well-versed in the richly diverse cultures of the former Yugoslavia.

Thus, the Croatian Christmas Sunday night at St. James Cathedral in which the main offering, in the midst of Croatian carols and bagpipe music, is "Joyous Nativity: A Croatian Cantata," written by the Croatian composer Tomislav Uhlik. Until Sherhart discovered the piece, premiered in the capital city of Zagreb in 1992, the work had never been performed outside of its native country. Last week, with Sherhart on the podium, the cantata was performed in Vancouver, B.C., and in Anacortes.

Two years ago, as she tells the tale, she was singing in a concert of Bulgarian music in Bellevue when a fellow singer told her about a marvelous work by Uhlik. A recording of the cantata was not easy to find, but eventually Sherhart prevailed. Her reaction was immediate.

"The work is so beautiful. I thought, we could do that work here. We have the resources, many talented performing groups, and a community for support. (The Croatian community consists of about 30,000 people.) What a challenge and a unique opportunity, for various groups to collaborate and jump-start the Croatian music scene."

Sherhart had all the prerequisites to do the job except to conduct the actual concert. So, she started taking conducting lessons.

"I dreamed of conducting in the fourth grade. Now, at 47, I am. I am not pretentious, calling myself a conductor. But I am passionate and I can conduct this one piece."

Through the Ethnic Heritage Council, which is sponsoring the concert along with Northwest Folklife, she sought financial assistance. The King County Arts Commission came through with a major grant.

"I've been obsessed with this piece for two years," she said. "It has been such a journey, but it has been magic all along, as well as some weird happenings. I had to do this work. It is everything you want from a piece of music. Audiences love it."

Sherhart describes the cantata as basically folk themes from one region of Croatia intertwined with and set in a "modern compositional framework. It feels like 'Carmina Burana' sung by a Russian choir," she said.

One challenge was to organize the singers and instrumentalists who would be taken from a number of groups, including the well-known Radost Folk Ensemble and Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble, not only for the cantata but also the rest of the program.

One-third of the 70 people performing on Sunday night are of Croatian descent.

The bulk of the local Croatian community came to Seattle at the turn of the 20th century, Sherhart said, attracted by jobs in logging and fishing. Most of the Croatians in the Anacortes area come from an island in the Adriatic Sea.

Another challenge was to locate the composer, and the music itself.

Sherhart wrote to the Croatian National Ensemble -- which commissioned the work and subsequently made the only recording -- for Uhlik's address. The group made the contact, so now Sherhart was in direct touch with the composer, who spoke English.

Uhlik, who divides his time between choral and symphonic music, is in Seattle and will be at St. James on Sunday.

"A Croatian Cantata" is the principal work of the evening, with alto soloist Marija Grgurevich singing the first movement of the work. But the concert is much more, including a procession of the cathedral's icon collection, Sherhart said. Croatian bagpipes will follow, along with the performers and children bearing baskets of fruit and other objects important to the Croatian celebration. Then, Croatian carols will be sung.

Folk music and dance were not things Sherhart grew up knowing, from either Western or Eastern Europe. Instead it was by unexpected discovery at the Moore Theater, when she saw the Kodela Ensemble. The experience, she recalls, was an epiphany.

"I was in the balcony, and I felt as if I had been hit by lightning. The feeling was so physical. I thought, 'I have to do this.' The folk group was very fertile ground with all sorts of talented souls, like Mark Morris. I am grateful to the music and the community it comes from. It has brought all of my skills together.

P-I music critic R.M. Campbell can be reached at 206-448-8396 or rmcampbell@seattlepi.com

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