On Friday, June 30, the Zbyraż folk vocal and instrumental ensemble from Zbaraż (Ukraine), Bolesławiec’s partner city, performed on the stage of the Old Theatre in Bolesławiec. (The group came at the invitation of the head of Bolesławiec Municipality Andrzej Dutkowski in connection with the Borderland Festival organized in Żeliszów).
As we read on the Facebook profile of the Society of Friends of Lviv and the Southeastern Borderlands:
We hosted the wonderful Zbyraż ensemble from Zbaraż (Ukraine) at the Old Theatre. The city and municipal authorities, as well as a wonderful audience, attended the performance and rewarded the ensemble’s beautiful songs with loud applause. See for yourselves how it was.
The Zbyraż ensemble was founded in 2006 and operates at the Cultural Centre in Zbaraż. It presents folk songs and music in Polish and Ukrainian. For its participation in cultural events and festivals, it received the title of National Amateur Ensemble in 2007. In 2008, it performed in Kyiv at the opening ceremony of the Year of Tourism in Ukraine. In 2009, it won first place and received a diploma from the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine as the best amateur folk ensemble participating in the Art Festival in Kyiv.
The Zbyraż amateur folk music ensemble is a regular participant in the All-Ukrainian “Bayda” Cossack Song Festival and the Cossack and Ukrainian Patriotic Song Festival. In 2012, it took part in the All-Ukrainian Art Festival “Ukraine – the Holy Family” and also gave many concerts in Zbaraż, Ternopil, Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
The group also travels abroad for concerts. In 2013, the ensemble performed at the Ukrainian Culture Festival in Serbia, and in 2015 it was a guest at a harvest festival ceremony in Głubczyce. “We hope that it will also become a frequent guest in Bolesławiec,” says Barbara Smoleńska, head of the Society of Friends of Lviv and the Southeastern Borderlands in Bolesławiec.