Antonina Kindrativna Antonovych (Kalenska-Yushkevych) (née Cherpak; born 24 April 1890 - died 20 May 1976) was a Ukrainian opera singer (mezzo-soprano).
Biography
Antonina Cherpak was born on 24 April 1890 in Kyiv.
She studied vocals privately in Kyiv with Valentyna Kruzhylina and Edmund Sedlnytsky. She graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory.
From 1912 to 1918 she was a soloist at the Kyiv Opera. She sang roles at the St. Petersburg People's House Opera and the Odesa Opera House.
In 1918, she emigrated to Europe. From 1919 she lived in France.
In 1926, she joined the troupe of the Russian Opera directed by Kirill Agrenov-Slavyansky. She made her debut in the opera Boris Godunov as Mamka. She has performed at the Russian Private Opera of Maria Kuznetsova-Massenet, the Russian Opera in Paris (Alexei Tsereteli's entrée), and the Russian Opera and Ballet of Mikhail Kashuk.
She took part in musical celebrations and charity evenings. She sang in opera performances with Chaliapin in Barcelona (1927, 1929), London (1931), and Paris (1931, 1933, 1935).
In 1936, she performed at the Ukrainian Opera in Paris, in a production of Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's Cossack Beyond the Danube (the company staged only one opera - due to financial difficulties, the company ceased to exist).
She took part in performances and concerts of the Circle of Russian Singers and the Association of Russian Literary and Artistic Workers.
Her partners on stage were Maria Davydova, K. Kaidanov, O. Karlova, A. Kurganov, V. Nikolsky, Fyodor Oreshkevich, Fyodor Chaliapin, Georgy Pozemkovsky, and others.
In 1945, she sang in the Lel vocal quartet.
In the 1940s and 1950s, she gave annual solo concerts at the Salle Gaveau in Paris.
She founded the Union of Friends of the Arts to help artists. She managed the Union and organised charity concerts (from 1952 to 1957).
In 1959, she was awarded the silver medal of the Society of Education and Encouragement (for her work in the field of vocal art in France for 40 years).
From 1965, she lived in a retirement home in Cormey-en-Paris. At that time, she already had the surname Kalenska-Juszkiewicz. She performed for the residents of the nursing home.
She died on 20 May 1976 in Cormey-en-Paris. She was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Geneviève-de-Bois in the Ile-de-France region.
Parties.
Olga ("Eugene Onegin");
Naina (Ruslan and Lyudmila);
Polina (The Wine Beauty);
Mamka, the innkeeper, Fyodor (Boris Godunov);
Vlasivna (The Pskov Girl);
Cleomeda (Lucretia).
